Image
by scntlla
Summary: The road to loving one's self is long and difficult. Luckily for Elesa, Skyla is there with her every step of the way.
1. 1a

_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Pokemon!_

 _ATTENTION: This story has a strong theme of self-loathe/self-depreciation, parental abuse, and disordered eating! There is also displays of internalized fatphobia and colorism! Proceed with caution, and remember that the moral of the story is that people can change!_

* * *

Appearances had always been a part of Elesa's life. Her parents were socialites and narcissists of the highest degree, and the moment that their daughter could understand more complex things about life, they did not hesitate to drill their most important lesson inside of her little head.

The idea was simple in its own right. "The reality is that nothing matters more than _looks._ " They said this with a serious expression, and stared down the young girl with apprehensive eyes. "People can pretend to care about other things, like personality or sympathy, but in the end all they care about is how someone looks like. Even if they don't want to admit it, they really judge people based on their image. They'll judge _you_ based off of _your_ image."

In Elesa's case, she felt lucky that she inherited sleek golden hair and shining blue eyes from her parents. She already had a good start when it came to physical appearance, but the maintenance of such an appearance would become her bane. Her parents were strict in teaching her lessons about food and exercise. She was not allowed to eat anything that she couldn't burn off easily, and sugary treats and fatty foods were banned from the very beginning.

This was all because of her parents' doing. By their standards, the thinner someone was, the healthier and prettier they become. They told her that ugly or fat children (or some sorry mix of the two) were not sought after, and no one would think twice if Elesa was a pound or two overweight.

Image was everything, they taught her, and it was fatal to think otherwise. It was the basis of a long ingrained lesson that would stick with her for years to come. At the time of her youth, Elesa thought nothing of these words, and sought only to please her beloved Mommy and Daddy. She had no idea just how badly those poisonous lies would affect her, in due time.

Past the initial years of infancy and childhood, Elesa's life routine and model changed drastically. Everything was chosen by her parents. They gave her designer clothes to wear and super healthy (and not as nutritional as they thought) food to eat. Her friends were carefully chosen, and were usually similar in Elesa's general appearance, or fitting the lowest standard of beauty permissible by her parents.

Even Elesa's pokemon were perfectly tailored to herself. To cut down on costs and time, her parents were insistent that she have a single partner throughout her younger days. As a future trainer or adolescent, they could rely on Elesa to catch whatever creature she wanted—but as a young girl growing up in their strict household, she had to have something that was just as striking as she was.

So her parents paid perfectly good money to buy a top-grade pokemon egg from stupidly expensive breeders. The egg had multiple lighting bolt patterns on its shell, so they were excited in lieu for a popular pikachu-line pokemon, or another electric lookalike that would garner the attention through its cuteness anyway.

It hatched after a short time, and inside the egg came out a blitzle. The small zebra was attractive in its own way, which was a relief to the parents bearing witness to the birth. Bordering the "cool" side of pokemon more than the cute, its fur was aligned with white electric bolt patterns, and a dull, newly formed hum of electricity could be seen coursing through its slate-colored coat. It stared up at the humans with wide, dewy eyes as it pondered the mystery of life unfolding before its eyes.

Elesa fell in love with it immediately, and insisted on pampering it for the first years of its life. From the newfound pride gained in obtaining a pokemon, her parents agreed, and the zebra was met with a comfortable year or so of its first life. It was raised differently from most others of its kind, since its trainer believed in its outward appearance and charm, more so than its actual combat prowess and battle skill. And soon after this realization, the pokemon fell into a routine much more similar to its trainer.

They shared the same punishments when scolded. They shared the same satisfaction when praised. They played together often, and often pretended they were top coordinators or musical actors taking the stage. They cried together whenever they got yelled at, and often cheered themselves up by looking at fashion magazines, or going for walks in the nearby park. Their fears and anxiety started up at the same triggers—their success and acknowledgement rode on the same coattails.

Their relationship altered to a greater extent at some point. The girl's mentality started to worsen in some ways, and outside of her parents' already strict regimen, she began to punish herself. Mistakes that her parents left unnoticed were caught by Elesa, and she berated herself for it. Blitzle followed suit. When moments of destruction and hatred filled Elesa, she hurt herself with or without meaning too. Blitzle did the same.

When the child _starved_ herself because her parents noticed her putting on a little weight ( _impossible,_ she thought to herself), so did her blitzle. These punishments were taken right away, because if Elesa did not stop herself, then her mother certainly would. And although Elesa was the trainer, she felt absolutely powerless whenever her blitzle glanced up hungrily in her direction. In some occasions, she gave into its sadness, and fed it an extra helping of berries and such when it gave her such a sorry look. But even then, her father made a point of keeping a personal inventory of their pantry stock, and he would know immediately that something was off whenever she broke protocol like that.

Considering punishment, the two never physically laid a hand on the girl, not once thinking to inflict bodily pain in any manner. Instead, they gave looks of disapproval and nasty glares that sent a signal that was equally disheartening. Her mother's angry shouts and bitter lectures were sufficient enough, and so were her father's empty stares and towering figure. In response to any of this, Elesa would hang her head in shame, and blitzle would whine as it felt a mixture of guilt and sorrow. It was guilty for getting her in trouble in the first place, and sorrowful because it knew that its food portions would remain unsatisfactory even after all that grief had transpired.

As a pokemon that was human-raised since birth, it knew not how to care for itself without Elesa, and seeing Elesa fail in these small ways meant failure for _it_ , as well.

And as unnecessary as it was, the zebra pokemon was forced to have an image, much like its trainer. It was known to the world as Elesa's stunning blitzle, who was brighter and slimmer and faster than any of the other blitzles out there. This contradictory mix of self-loathing and pride warped the pokemon in its own right. Its heart began to twist and turn in ways that matched its owner step by step.

And by the time Elesa started attending trainer school, both her and her partner knew what they had to do in order to succeed. In order to make their parents happy, and save themselves that awful spite, they would have to more than just step it up. They would have to _dominate._ And they needed an early start more than anything, because ss they got older, their looks would become _everything_. Until that point, however they had to impress anyone and everyone, and they had to make sure that no one else was better than they were.

They had to make sure that no one was even _close_ to that idea _._ And for that short-sighted goal, Elesa knew that she would give up everything and more to make it become real. She had to give her blood, sweat, and tears. She had to.

...

On the first day of school, Elesa and blitzle met another girl and her pidove, a duo who seemed insignificant at the time. But for some reason, Elesa could not take her eyes off of her. For starters, she had never seen anyone like her before. All the children she associated with were similar to her in appearance—lightly colored hair and perfectly soft skin, with thin frames and skinny arms.

This stranger was not like that _at all_. Her hair was vibrantly red, and reminiscent of the sky on a sweltering summer day. It was thick and held loosely in a ponytail at the time, but Elesa had a feeling that the other girl's red hair was stunningly rich in any style, up or down and in between.

And then there were her _eyes_. They were blue like Elesa's eyes, but an entirely different shade as they appeared to be deep, warm, and inviting. They were like the ocean waves on a warm afternoon, inviting and thoughtful all at once. They were nothing like Elesa's irises, which were bright in color but as cold and thin as glacier caps. The mere differences in things like hair and eye color were already enough to differentiate the two.

But those differences didn't stop there. Even her skin was different and darker than Elesa's, although Elesa could admit that it was hard to outmatch her own paleness. The blonde beauty looked like she had lived indoors all her life (which was mostly true), while the redhead cutie appeared to be a lovely dark shade, browned by living in the sun all year long. Her mocha skin told stories of love and warmth, and her eyes recounted tales of sunny days and windy nights.

In comparison, Elesa's image was cold, unloving, but _beautiful_. She wove elegant tales about despair, emptiness, stagnation, and _distance_. It was a stark contrast to the rustic, energetic child in front of her—so stark that Elesa felt uncomfortable at the thought of it and shifted in her seat awkwardly. She wanted to look away. She wanted to ignore this girl that was so insignificant yet so _noticeable._

Perhaps it was her size that made her stand out. No doubt that children ranged from quite thin to quite large, and Skyla laid in the middle of that spectrum, if not leaning towards fat. There was obvious chubbiness in her body, and it showed through chunky legs that stuck together at all times, round cheeks that were suited to being full of food, and a thick neck that trembled when she spoke. It was much different from Elesa's thin, almost model-like frame which was severe yet attractive, for a child.

So the fact that this fatter, darker, and—by association of such traits— _uglier_ girl was in Elesa's class did not shock her too much. There were plenty of rounder, overweight children in school. What really changed her world, though, was the fact that this girl was _smiling,_ and that she seemed happier than the whole class combined. She appeared cheerful, bright, and unyielding, even when her image was so distasteful. And when it was her turn to introduce herself, she started off with a joke that had everyone laughing off their seats like they had never heard something so funny before.

It irked Elesa to no end.

She was as unamused as they come, and that lack of enthusiasm quickly morphed into disdain as Skyla laughed along with the others, reveling in the amusement she caused. Once everyone calmed down she rubbed the back of her head, grinning like a fool in front of the whole class.

"Nice to meet you, everyone!" She greeted. "My name is Skyla! And this here's my pidove. Isn't he a cutie?" The pidove in question cooed, and showed off a trick or two with its gray wings. This was a function of the trainer school itself. Everyone in class was allowed to have a single partner (which Elesa was already used to since her parents were so strict), and yet Skyla was the only one who had the utterly common choice of pidove. The other students were more like Elesa in the sense that they wanted their partner to stand out. Only three kids had some common partners like purrloin, eevee, or lillipup. Most students chose one of the basic three elemental starters of Unova, or one of the elemental monkey pokemon. There was one kid whose rich relative in Johto snagged him a snubbull, and another who had a tropius from his home region of Hoenn. Still, uncommon partners were ironically _more_ common, and there were even a couple of kids that had out-of-this-world stuff, like a cryogonal or a grimer.

Despite this, Elesa was the only electric user in the class, so she felt triumph in that sense. And yet the star of the whole show was neither the regionally foreign pokemon, nor the striking blitzle of hers, but Skyla's startlingly normal pidove—a pidove whose appearance was nothing to sneeze at, and whose tricks were nothing astonishing, but there was _something_ in the technicality and tenacity of it all that charmed everyone there. Even the instructor gave a clap, a cheer, a hoot in response to this tomfoolery.

Elesa hated it. She wanted no more of it. She stood up and called out arrogantly to the teacher, hoping to stop this charade. "I thought we were supposed to just introduce ourselves and our partners, not _show off!"_

She made sure to tone down on the obvious dislike in her voice, and made sure that none of her words were too pronounced, lest the other kids ridicule her for it. She had an image to keep, after all! And it was an image that was more sacred to her than life itself.

It held up well for now, and a few of the weaker-willed kids shouted in agreement with her. They shared Elesa's apparent mindset, but they did not know her motives. With the right words of charisma, Elesa could have those kids do anything she wanted. She would keep an eye on _them_ for sure.

Still, the teacher decided to cut Skyla and her pidove short, and said that they can "show off" once the whole class had been introduced. The redhead was not distraught by this in the least, and agreed at once. Then, one by one, the rest of the class introduced themselves. Elesa had been paying half attention to it all, and was nearly caught off guard when it came to her time to introduce herself.

When her turn had come, however,, she stood up at full attention, and stared at everyone with an indifferent yet calculated expression. Her eyes came across Skyla's visage, and her countenance seemed to stiffen somewhat. She corrected this as much as she could, and gave the most sophisticated introduction she could—her dull but airy voice filling up the room like a light.

"My name is Elesa," she said, "and I'm going to be a _star_."


	2. 2a

Since that day, Elesa made it known who would be the best in the class. Just because appearances were the most paramount thing to her, did _not_ mean that other aspects were worthless. They were just insignificant in _comparison._ But if she could better her image in any way possible, than she would do just that.

Academically, Elesa had never done particularly well in school before. Lectures always proved monotonous in her mind, and she often daydreamed when she should have paid attention. But when Skyla received the highest score in class on the first test, Elesa felt that she had to improve her grades immediately. And when Skyla's arts and craft project was praised by everyone, Elesa had to step up artistically.

From that point onward, she outdid Skyla in most aspects that school had to offer. In lectures, Elesa asked and answered more questions than Skyla did. In tests, Elesa started scoring higher than Skyla did. In battles, Elesa made sure to win more than Skyla did. It was a fierce competition in Elesa's mind, especially since Skyla was gaining more and more popularity by the day.

Not to mention that there was one aspect of school and life where Skyla had Elesa beat. It was something in which Elesa had no chance of ever reversing the results. The very thing in question, of course, was _physicality._

Elesa's body was thin and frail due to the strict regimens she and her parents placed on it early on. Skyla was thick and round, but she was also sturdy and athletic. While physical education was the least of the school's worries, Skyla made it known that she was a sports lover and addict to boot, and wanted nothing more than to fly the skies with her pokemon one day. She either wanted to be a star athlete or a pilot, but for either dream she had to be built. So despite her chunky body, she ran, played, and exercised her heart out.

She shined when it came to athleticism. Elesa grew weary after a few minutes of running, but Skyla could chug on like a bullet train, and rivet down the tracks forever. Elesa was weak with her upper arm strength and had a childhood fear of heights, but Skyla climbed all the trees and playground equipment with utter ease. Elesa feared riding a pokemon due to the idea that it might throw her off at a random time, but Skyla wanted nothing more than to skim the atmosphere with her beloved birds. But pidove was too small for _Elesa_ to ride on, let alone Skyla.

But Skyla caught a lucky break. The boy with the tropius let her go for a ride on his partner once, and she easily dazzled everyone with her unexpected aeronautics skill. In the air, Skyla was unreachable, and Elesa knew that she could never compete with the sight of her flying in the sky. She knew that nothing seemed to bother Skyla, anyway.

Not the mean, anonymous notes that Elesa left on her desk (although Elesa's cursive is very distinctive), nor the snide remarks that Elesa made while passing her by (Skyla just laughed it off)—not even the attempt to defeat her cruelly in battle! (For when Elesa and Skyla _did_ have a one-on-one battle, they were cut short due to Skyla's parents arriving and taking her home for the day).

Still, they were on an even playing field in some sense, and over the days it was clear that the girls were matched in popularity and likability amongst the school. And it _devastated_ Elesa to know this. In her previous schools, she outmatched everyone and was adored by all. But _here_ , she was easily dismissable in place of Skyla, who did not even try _half_ as hard as Elesa tried to be likable.

And that was the most frustrating thing of all to her. Skyla was not even _trying_ to be popular, charitable, or noticeable—she was just naturally all of those things at once! Elesa spent years creating and cultivating her image, yet her efforts were just as noticed as Skyla's, who hardly put any _effort_ into it at all. It burned Elesa to know this, such that her pale skin became livid, and the ice in her eyes gleamed with something _heated._

Oh, she really hated Skyla. What a perfect, happy, fat little mess Skyla was. What an extremely lucky girl she had to be for her to waltz in and steal the spotlight like this. _She's fat,_ Elesa kept telling herself, _I'm prettier_ and _thinner than she is! Why doesn't everyone like me better than her? Why does everyone like_ her _so much?_

Her negative attitude affected blitzle a lot, too. Because blitzle was just as broken as Elesa was, and as such it only knew satisfaction through Elesa's satisfaction. Despite being an electric type, the zebra pokemon lacked the energy and spontaneity that other species of its type were known to have. Its body glowed dimly these days, and it only sent off shocks or sparks when it was livid. But seeing that puny bird pokemon made its eyes narrow and its volts build up considerably.

They would give anything to break Skyla and pidove's image—had they anything left to _give_ , that is. Because at the end of the day, no matter who was more popular, Elesa secretly knew that Skyla had won altogether. Skyla would go home to a family that probably cares about her, feeds her well, and dotes on her as parents should. Yet at the end of _Elesa's_ day, she went home hungry to a family that could care less for anything that was not immediate, obstinate beauty.

And that was the part that _really_ stung. Because for everything that Elesa gave up, she received nothing in return.

...

But things changed at some point. Over time, Elesa's parents became less strict when it came to her image. Her father found complacency in a promotion at his already well-paying job, and her mother had secured her own place at a high-end modelling company. Their own image brought them the wealth and success they desired, so they did not need to rely on their daughter anymore.

But those small improvements did nothing to remedy Elesa's harmful, yet habitual actions. At this point, she was used to having one or less meals a day, and she never bought herself snacks or treats of the kind. She was used to the rumbling in her stomach, as the noise started becoming a sound of hard-earned victory, rather than stressful and agonizing defeat.

Blitzle was very much the same, although as it got closer to evolving, its appetite and body demanded more substance, which Elesa could accommodate more freely since her father stopped taking tolls and counts of their daily food intake. At the very least, throughout this stagnant and bitter life, blitzle was starting to change and that made Elesa happy.

Her efforts were finally starting to amount to _something_.

...

By the time she was twelve, Elesa stopped openly fighting with Skyla so much. She still held that competitive spirit in her, but she kept her hostility more subtle. It benefitted her to do this, since her fellow students were more conducive to her calm personality than they were her harsh attitude. More of the _boys_ , especially, started seeing Elesa in a new light, and as such they started doing her more favors.

They opened doors for her, shared their lunches with her, and even lost to her on purpose in training battles. One of her opponents even had a ground type, but he let their battle drag on far longer than it should have, allowing her blitzle to tackle the trapinch into submission. The boy with the tropius was even starting to reconsider his choice in a starter pokemon, because he knew Elesa's fear of heights still prevailed.

And the other students, even the girls, let Elesa do other things as well. No one challenged her authority, and no one thought to ever displease her, even in small ways. Their reward was nothing but pure satisfaction and a comment from Elesa herself. Her image was very strong now, and she was the girl that was "going to be a star"', so others flocked to her as they desired the same stardom.

She was growing up well at this point, and became everything a good student and person ought to be—witty, charismatic, beautiful, and intelligent.

She was doing great, and it made Elesa wonder why she went through so much strife to begin with. Then she realized that something was _off,_ that something was different now which was the only reason why she was able to climb to the top so quickly—it was the only reason she was able to take the world by storm like she did.

And the reason was Skyla. Before, Elesa had to fight Skyla and win over her in any aspect possible. The tests, battles, grades, art—in every subject, she did everything she could to beat out Skyla, who was just so naturally talented at it all that it was infuriating.

And yet, the natural girl was nowhere in sight. Not that she was missing, but rather that she was there, presently and obviously visible still—just that she did not actively participate in school matters anymore.

In fact, she had not actively done _anything_ in quite some time. Back then, Skyla was always cracking jokes, telling stories, talking about pilots, acrobats, or something else interesting. Back then, she was cheery, bright, and obtusely kind. She was the star athlete of the class and the do-good, feel-good girl of the year.

Back then, she was all of those things and more. But as of late, she had been _none_ of those things. Elesa had not noticed until now—for she was far too self-absorbed—but recently Skyla had been more subdued. She asked less questions and told less jokes. She even did worse in class, and Elesa knew this because one of her friends gossipped that they saw the teacher talking to Skyla after school once.

Despite this, Elesa did not think too much of it, not until she spoke to the other girl herself. She had never actually properly spoken to her before, and all of their interactions were limited to gossip (from Elesa's end) and forced in-class participation.

On a fateful school day, during lunch, Elesa decided to confront Skyla. Most of the other students and pokemon were outside playing, but Elesa and her blitzle were too good for that. They stayed indoors, where they observed everyone and everything with cold, blue eyes. Today, those eyes saw that Skyla was _alone,_ and not even her usual bird pokemon was out and about.

The pidove-now-turned-tranquill was usually out and about, flapping its wings and doing little tricks that were only half as amusing as they once were. The fact that it was withdrawn, just as its trainer, came off as suspicious, but Elesa kept these skepticisms to herself. She flipped back her perfectly blonde hair and cleared her trained-to-be attractive voice. Skyla glanced at her initially, but then looked back down at her desk in resignation once more. Elesa spoke.

"Hey, your name's Skyla, right?" _As if I would ever forget._

"Yeah." Her voice was unenthused, not even accusing or sad that Elesa, a longtime classmate of hers, had seemingly forgot her name. "Yeah, that's me."

"You remember me, right?" _How could you ever forget someone like me?_

"Of course. You're Elesa, we've been in the same class since, like, the third grade."

"Oh gosh, you're right! It's been, like, forever since then! Do you still wanna be a pilot? I remember that's _all_ you would talk about back then. It was cute but now that we're older you could _actually_ become one. A pilot, I mean."

Elesa figured that Skyla would give some generic response to her inquiries, but it was not so. She stiffened at the word "pilot", and hid her face underneath her long, dark red hair. Her hands fidgeted, her legs shook, and her nerves unravelled before Elesa's eyes.

For the first time that Elesa could remember, Skyla cried. She sobbed, and started coughing because her tears lead to a snot and mucus build-up, which lead to a runny nose and a bleary face. She was a big, fat, crying mess at her desk. Worse is that Elesa, top girl and student in the class, was the one who had to witness such a thing.

She had not prepared for this at all. For the longest time, she used to joke that Skyla was "unable to do anything but smile". It roused a lot of laughs from her clique, although most people agreed that Skyla's bubbly disposition made her seem impervious to social stigmas. But in this situation, that was clearly not the case, and it did nothing but sting Elesa with guilt and regret.

Skyla rose from her seat, and Elesa took a step back, as if afraid she would lash out at her. Panicked, her voice cracked and her image broke for a mere _second_ , and she asked nervously "Areyouokay" like it was one word and not a sentence as it was supposed to be. But it hardly mattered either way, as Skyla looked up from the ground, and it was then and there that Elesa _truly_ looked at her for the first time.

Her eyes were just as deep and blue as they were before, but they were filled with tears and were partly red with exhaustion and stress. Her skin was not impeccably brown as it once seemed to be, but just normally brown as signs of premature acne started to form, and ugly tear streaks fell down her round cheeks. The cheeks that were joked to hold "a winter's worth of food" seemed lacking of their usual vibrancy, the eyes that held the sky and sea and in between were just as empty.

And in those two, maybe _three_ seconds of eye contact Elesa felt so many things at once. She felt happy that she could _finally_ see Skyla break down, and that she could see the perfect little girl tear apart into many imperfect pieces. She also felt sad that Skyla was crying, because when someone cries it just makes everyone else sad. She felt remorseful because all of the teasing she had done to Skyla seemed really unfair in light of this situation. She felt angry, because how was Elesa supposed to know that Skyla would actually be affected by anything? Her image was so well worn and so perfect, Elesa could hardly predict that a day like this would come.

But it did, and Elesa could not imagine doing anything helpful from there on out. Skyla ignored Elesa's concern, and broke eye contact with her by ducking her head down. Then, she stormed out of the room, running past Elesa with ease. The blonde was helpless to stop her anyway, because when it came to physical strength and athletic prowess, Skyla had Elesa outmatched since _birth._

But none of that mattered, as Skyla disappeared out the door in a matter of seconds—ignoring the pain of clumsily bumping into desks or other students returning to recess—ignoring everything except the agony crashing down on her.


	3. 3a

Elesa did not chase Skyla. She hardly knew her beyond the incessant teasings and basic knowledge any kid would have with each other, so to remedy her obvious pain and sadness was something beyond her understanding and capability. Besides, to Elesa, this clearly was _not_ her fault. How was she supposed to know that Skyla would run off like that? How could she know that she was the last straw to break the horse's back, and her seemingly harmless words were enough to break Skyla down?

Despite these thoughts, she figured that Skyla would run home, get picked up by her parents, and be absent from school for a few days. But that would be the worst of it, and then she would come back to school and things would run as usual. By next week, the two girls could go back to hating each other and living their separate lives, as they had been doing. Yes, Elesa was _sure_ that everything would go back to normal by then.

...

Class continued without a break. The teacher was notified of Skyla's absence, something which the other students described as a "crybaby breakdown". The teacher replied that the _real_ crybabies were the ones who ridiculed the pain of others, and those that lacked compassion were worse for wear—but not in so many words as the students he was speaking to were only twelve years old at the most.

Still, Elesa agreed that if Skyla was a crybaby, then the rest of them were even worse, as everyone in class had had episodes of crying, breaking down, and other similar situations in the past. Everyone except Elesa since her image was too well-built to be broken down by a few tears. But children were children, and not even Skyla's tranquill could not cheer them up with its superficial tricks if it came down to it.

No one else really thought about Skyla after that, except Elesa who was particularly and mentally preoccupied with her. Despite her intense hatred for the girl, part of her wondered if she was _really_ okay, and what would have happened that caused her to break down like that. As far as Elesa was concerned, Skyla was all laughter and jokes, and she never felt pain. So what affected her so much that she ran out of class and ditched school half way into the day? It not only intrigued Elesa, but it drove her mad.

After all, she had been trying so hard to break down Skyla for _years,_ and nothing ever worked. Yet here she was, breaking down after an unintentionally mean word or two. Nothing seemed to work up until this point.

Elesa paused with her pencil in hand. Her eyes widened and the world slowed to a fantastical halt around her.. _Aha,_ she thought. _That's exactly it!_ Nothing ever _seemed_ to bother Skyla, but in reality _everything_ bothered her. _Yes, it makes sense now!_ This whole time, Elesa and the other students' taunting had hit Skyla where it hurts, and the smile she always bore was nothing but a mask to cover the pain she felt inside.

Elesa had her pinned down this whole time, and she delighted in this knowledge. Her face lit up, and the students around her felt uneasy because of this uncharacteristic _happiness_ that suddenly appeared before them _._ The shocking star Elesa, who was known to be cold and unforgiving, was giggling to herself in class for who-knows-what. It was too bad that everyone around her was under her near control, because they would have torn her apart with jeers and laughter had they been given the chance.

"Why so happy, Elesa?" One of her peers finally worked up the courage to ask. "Something good happen?"

"Yes," she simply answered. "All my hard work has paid off!"

"Huh?"

"Never mind. Stop distracting me, will you?"

...

When class ended and school was dismissed, Elesa stayed after school to get some extra battle time in. Her blitzle was stronger and faster now, at least compared to how it _used_ to be. But these overtime sessions would be the dealbreaker in its evolution, which seemed to come at a slow and excruciating pace. If Elesa was going to take the world by storm, then she needed the perfect partner by her side to do it.

After all, the two had been through so much together. They suffered and cried together, they laughed and joked together. Even if one was a zebra-like creature and had no capabilities to speak any human language, they were practically one and the same. Both were electrifying, stubborn beings who starved themselves and hated themselves for years on end. Both were slim, slender creatures that captivated the attention of others. Both were tryhards, over-achievers, and underachievers all at once.

Both were sad, sorry little things that only knew how to hurt others. This was evident enough in their everyday lives, where they bettered themselves through the expense of others, and forgot what it meant to love themselves. Although, they did not know what it meant to love one's self, anyway. If they knew then they would not stay after school and work themselves tired and hungry. If they knew, they would not deny themselves food or rest if they _were_ tired and hungry—they would not hurt themselves the way the did, had they known what self-love meant.

But this did not mean they were void of compassion. No, they were just unfamiliar with the idea, but they knew it nonetheless. So when that stinging feeling of guilt arose in Elesa's chest—and when her face fell and her arms collapsed weakly at her side quite suddenly—Elesa knew that her image could only protect her so much before the pain and repercussions of her actions would come through.

Her image was near damn perfect, but not perfect enough to spare her this incessant, surprising misery.

...

Soon enough, the teacher called her back inside, insisting that she go home for the day. She found no reason to refuse, so she hurried along. In a few moments, she recalled her blitzle back its pokeball, and gathered all her stuff before leaving the empty classroom with the instructor. As soon as they were about to walk off the school grounds, however, a car pulled up to the curb beside them.

Elesa felt something knot in her stomach. She was normally not a nervous person, but for some reason her heart started going a mile a minute. Her fingers absentmindedly wandered to the single pokeball on her sleek waist belt, hovering over the button that would release her blitzle to the outside world.

The teacher felt this anxiety stir from the girl, so he half-awkwardly protected the girl by standing in front of her, shielding a good portion of her figure from the strangers' view. She peeked around his body, and looked at the strangers in question.

Before them, a man stood out from the passenger side of the vehicle, closing it roughly with a simple push of his hand. A woman emerged from the driver's side, and slammed close the door, as well. At first, Elesa thought nothing of them. They were probably angry parents or staff and board members of the like. But on closer inspection, Elesa found something familiar in them.

They both had startling red hair. The man's hair was long, surfer-like, and fell in stringy strands past his shoulders. He was large and strong, looking like he could have been a professional wrestler or bodyguard of some kind. The woman was no less awesome in comparison. Her hair was cut short in a neat, modern style that showed her toughness. She was leaner than the man was, but sort of fatter and rounder somehow. Her gaze was strong, even, and unwavering such that Elesa felt like if the woman were to ask her anything, she would answer her honestly and immediately.

They both had dark skin. Brown, mocha, chocolate shades that sometimes faded into tan or lighter colors. They were sun people, all right, athletic and bright folks that worked out, went hiking, and trained their partners under the afternoon heat. Because they were older, their skin was somewhat less smooth, and instead was more taut and rough as visible exercising had shaped them well. The man had apparent scars and bruises, and the woman had an impressive, colorful tattoo of Ho-Oh that ran across her whole left side.

They both had deep, blue eyes. Familiarly so, as if Elesa was staring right into the heart of the ocean. They were as blue as the entire sea and the water types that swam in them. Something about those eyes were alluring—was it their wise aura, or kind shape? Something in those eyes made Elesa want to trust them, and want to stare deeper and deeper into them.

They were so alive, and so strange in this scene. They did not belong in a car, in front of a school, nor in the streets that were half-urban, half-suburban. Elesa could picture the two of them, husband and wife, surfing the waves or flying a plane, going where the big blue is and running wild and free—

Then it clicked suddenly. She knew why they were so familiar. She had seen them before, albeit not the two of them individually. Elesa had seen half of the woman, and half of the man, inside one whole of a smaller girl. She witnessed their blood, offspring, _child_ with her own eyes.

She watched that girl with the red hair and dark skin before—she hated her, taunted her, and spited her for years on end. She still resented her _now._

She knew who they were. And upon this realization, the knots in her stomach worsened and became entire tangles and rivets. Her brewing worry was evident, but there could be nothing done to comfort her. The teacher himself was apprehensive, but let part of his guard down as he cleared his throat.

"Yes? Can I help you folks?"

"We're Skyla's parents," the man said. His voice was rumbling and low, like a sonic boom or a tremor of the earth. He crossed his arms and his chest disappeared disappeared behind a big, brown, hairy mass of muscles.

"Skyla has not returned home yet," the woman explained further. Her voice was unlike her appearance—it was soft, sweet, and honey-like. It was the sound of someone who had faced hardships and gave only kindness in return. But it was also the sound of someone whose kindness fell short in moments like these.

Elesa unknowingly smiled.

"Is she here?" Skyla's father asked. He glanced around the entrance, facial expression not changing beyond his straight mouth and perched brows. "Where is our daughter?"

"Your daughter?" the teacher repeated the question, seemingly confused by it. Elesa wanted to groan exasperatedly. "Right, your daughter. Skyla is her name, and a _beautiful_ name it is. Well, the thing about Skyla is—"

"She's gone." Elesa spoke up, bitter voice barely audible behind the teacher's figure. But she stepped forward carefully, letting her hands stray from her blitzle's pokemon and down to her sides, instead. "Earlier today, she was crying and ran out of the classroom. No one knows what happened to her."

"You didn't try to stop her?" The mother questioned the teacher more so than Elesa, and her once-kind voice raised in alarm. "What kind of school lets children run without supervision? And you didn't even bother to _call_ us."

The instructor seemed tongue tied. He tried, at the very least, to make himself appear less sorry than he was. By all accounts, he was failing. "Well, it happened during lunch, so I wasn't there to—"

"Our daughter," Skyla's father repeated, sounding more threatening now, "is missing, and you could have prevented this."

"It's a shame that our education system has fallen to this," Skyla's mother lamented, "and if I find my daughter, I have half the mind to make a complaint."

"Or better yet," he cut in, "I'll have my braviary make quick work of this place. This school was voted one of the best in the Unova Region, and it's the only reason we let our daughter study here to begin with. And yet, the so-called 'best school' in the damn region lets their students run around however they want to. Pathetic."

"Well, sir, ma'am, I can assure you that I—"

"We'll talk later," Skyla's mother stated. "You're obviously useless in this situation. I would try to be nicer, but I have no kindness for _fools._ You better hope that we find our daughter quickly. Or in your case, that _you_ find her quickly, since you were the one last responsible for her."

"Ma'am, I promise—"

"Promises mean nothing," she insisted. "I want _results._ "

"We'll be on our way now." Her husband said, sounding utterly displeased. He looked between Elesa and the teacher, and glowered—the first notable expression of his thus far—at the former. He analyzed her in some way that she could not tell, and she tried not to fold in on herself. "You, young lady. You saw her last. Are you a friend of Skyla's?"

Elesa blinked, but then shook her head. "We don't really know each other."

"I see," he huffed. "No, it was silly to ask that in the first place. Obviously a _friend_ wouldn't let her run out on class like that."

Elesa, despite the truth of his statement, felt offended. It was probably because he was inadvertently blaming her somehow. _It's not my fault,_ she hissed mentally. How many times did she have to say that to herself? Her thoughts continued and ran darkly. _It's not my fault, not mine. I didn't know Skyla would run away like that._ _How could I have known?_

But instead of voicing these thoughts, she just grinned, and answered them in an equally bitter tone.

"Obviously."


	4. 4a

When Skyla's parents left the scene, the teacher was speechless, and Elesa more so. But she eventually broke out of the stupor, and looked at the adult with accusing eyes.

"Are you gonna find her?"

"Don't worry about that," he told her. "You head home, Elesa. You wouldn't want your parents to get worried, too."

She nearly scoffed at the idea. Her parents did not quite care for her like they used to. They were too wrapped up in their own complacency to notice their own child, or worry about her at least. From time to time they would give half hearted lectures about returning home on time, but she knew that if she stayed out all day, they would be none the wiser.

Nor would they be the most concerned individuals on the planet. Their parenting methods switched rapidly from being a once-strict dictatorship, to a more mellow oligarchy—such that they hardly reprimanded their daughter with the same force as they used to. They had given up on her in a sense, and stopped their harsh treatments from before. She was no longer starved or held accountable for what she ate everyday. They let her buy her own clothes and hang out with her own friends, but part of them knew that Elesa would not stray from their teachings despite this new freedom. After all, it took some years to ingrain those sensibilities in her—it would take some years for her to weed them out.

In that regard, she knew that her parents need not be involved. In fact, they were both probably busy with work right now—her mother's job as a coordinator in a modelling agency, for one, took a lot of her time away. She was hardly seen around the house at reasonable hours, too. _They won't care,_ she insisted. _I'll be fine._

"Don't worry about _me,_ " Elesa said aloud. "Worry about Skyla, maybe."

"I _am_ worrying about her. I didn't know she didn't return home right away—I should have called or something." He sighed, and looked up to the skies. "But she's only twelve. Where could she possibly wander off to?"

Elesa shrugged, and adjusted the straps on her backpack. Then she averted her gaze from her teacher, and looked towards the darkening sky. The last remnants of daylight disappeared, and she sighed.

"Beats me," she said halfheartedly.

...

Elesa ended up going home, anyway. Had she known Skyla better, then she probably would have set out after her. But the truth was that she still hated Skyla and never got to know her as a person. In this situation, Elesa was nearly as useless as her own parents were.

Yet she did not want to return home, either. Even though she was already halfway through the return route, and in five or ten minutes she would be in front of her two-story house—where the outside was ridiculously plain and the inside was full of designer furniture and strewn clothes—she did not want to go home. She did not want to see the two adults who called themselves her parents, either.

At this point, going after Skyla would be a better option. Elesa looked up to the sky in thought.

The dark blues of the atmosphere reminded her of Skyla, and stabs of regret resonated in her core. Should she have left her alone to wallow in her own self pity? Should she have stopped her, somehow? Or at the very least, should she have gone for the teacher to do something as soon as he could? Would either of those actions changed the course of fate?

Elesa did not know, either way. But it frustrated her still. To think that the person she hated the most ended up being the only one she sort of cared about was nothing short of ironic. And if Skyla was to go missing—or worse, _die—_ then Elesa truly would stay at the top of her world, with no possible way of going down.

She would be the queen. She would rule over everyone. But at what cost? She finally wondered about the consequences of her actions. _At what cost?_ _Is it worth it?_

Of course, she was only twelve at the time, so to get what she ultimately wanted was absolutely worth it, no matter the cost. Yet it obviously was the wrong choice, but satisfaction and validation was just so important to her. She had stepped over others and crushed their desires for her own in that process. Was that not cruel of her, she wondered? Was that not unfair? Yes, cruelty could go _too_ far and she supposed that she was crossing that line.

But more than likely, she crossed that line long ago.

With the sudden thought of amendment popping up in her mind, Elesa remembered something from the past. When eavesdropping on Skyla previously, she learned that the redhead loved going to high-up places like cliffs and skyscrapers, and admired the views she saw when she was up there.

"My favorite place," Skyla had once said, "is the ferris wheel in Nimbasa City. It's sort of faraway, but it's worth it. Of course, it closes at nighttime, so I settle for the next best thing."

And "the next best thing", Elesa realized, was someplace that would _not_ be closed to the public, no matter how dark it got. It would be a place that anyone could have access to, even a twelve year old like Skyla.

With that thought in mind, Elesa turned on her heels, and headed in the opposite direction of her home. Even if they lived on the outskirts of Castelia City, every native of Unova knew that one place in their region towered over all the others.

That place was Skyarrow Bridge. It was a breathtaking site, somewhere where you could see Castelia City, the Royal Unova, and the blue sea in one second. It was so high that they had to build an underpass for the pedestrians' sake. It was a place where a person could really run and be free—a place where they could really fly.

And no one loved flying more than Skyla. So, despite not knowing her that well, Elesa figured that Skyla's whereabouts were at Skyarrow Bridge. She just _knew it._ With all of her weak resolve, she headed south of Castelia, towards the exit that would lead to the bridge and ultimately lead to the biggest meeting of Elesa's life.

The exit that would lead to her destiny.

...

It was late into the night by the time Elesa arrived at Skyarrow Bridge. Despite such dark hours, there were a lot of people and pokemon out, and none of them gave Elesa a second glance as she ran past them, and went towards the middle of the bridge where she started screaming.

"Skyla!" She called her name out properly, for the first time in a long time. "Skyla?" She half-yelled, half-asked herself. _Oh God,_ she thought, _what am I doing here?_

"Go _away,_ Elesa!"

Elesa blinked, hearing her name being called from a faint corner somewhere. The faint edges of despair that the words took on were so familiar, yet so foreign. But she knew who spoke those words, she knew who she would find on the bridge. Then, she saw her. She saw Skyla.

And Skyla was somewhere that Elesa could never predict her to be. She was on the _other side_ of the bridge, on that precarious edge that spelled life or death for whoever was standing on it. In this case, the clear image of a young, twelve year old girl was seen on that edge. The wind was whipping her hair in all sorts of directions, and her hands were clutching the wires of the bridge for dear life. But it was just terrifying and _scary_ to know that there was nothing separating Skyla from the deep, dark oblivion below them.

There was nothing stopping her from jumping. There was Elesa, of course, but she would be too slow to stop her. She was always slower than Skyla was.

And Elesa _finally_ realized this. As Skyla was perched on the unsafe side of the concrete bridge, Elesa finally realized something. This world they lived in was not Elesa's exclusively. No matter how hard she tried to make it so, no matter how much she wanted it to _be_ so, it would never be _hers_ entirely—she was but a small piece of the picture.

The same went for Skyla. She was such a bright and charismatic girl, Elesa figured that whether she liked it or not, Skyla would become big in the future. She would be the sunniest girl they had ever seen, and maybe she would even be the best female pilot around. She and her tranquill could do tricks all they wanted, and they would wave from propeller airplanes at adoring crowds and do loops in the sky.

That, and so much more, was waiting for them, surely. But none of it would matter if Skyla did what Elesa feared she would do. It all depended on whether or not the red-headed girl in front of her jumped off the bridge.

Elesa felt sick. She sauntered forward, and mindlessly made her way across the safe railings. She managed to be only inches away from Skyla as they both faced uncertainty. The wind was stronger on this side of the bridge, and her pale fingers clenched onto the wires dangling behind her. Her blitzle was long since confined to its pokeball, but she feared for it as the water below them swelled and splashed darkly, as if in tandem with their unsteady heartbeats.

Elesa gulped. "Why are you here, Skyla?"

"Why are _you_ here, Elesa?" she rebounded. Her eyes were narrowed, but evidently tired from the redness that formed there. Her normally strong, thick legs were wavering with the cold night, and surely her lips were quivering, too. But she continued on like none of this applied to her, and the ferocity in her voice was enough to make Elesa cry. "Why are _you_ here?"

"I don't know!" Elesa shouted back at her. "But this is dangerous! Don't stand here, just go back to the other side!"

"I don't want to," Skyla insisted, turning her gaze away. "I'm tired of listening to everyone. I'm gonna do what I want for a change."

"What are you talking about?" Elesa demanded. She stepped closer to her—but barely so as any movement teetered her body and she was afraid she would fall before she could finish what she wanted to say. The frenzy in her body and mind was beginning to take place, and she stuttered out a pathetic inquiry as a follow-up.

"W-What do you mean?"

"You always made fun of me, so I never thought you would be here with me right now." Skyla simply said, ignoring Elesa's questions. "You're the last person I ever thought I would see here."

"I only made fun of you because I couldn't stand you!" Elesa justified, as if that justification made sense to begin with. "You're always so smiley and bright and, and _perfect!_ I hated it!"

"Ha," Skyla laughed dryly. "Oh, gosh, Elesa. I knew you were always full of it, but I didn't know it was _this_ bad." Her eyes locked with Elesa's again—cold ice met the warm sky—and she stared hard. "You _thought_ I was perfect. But I know myself better than anyone."

The wind was blowing harder now. Elesa's designer scarf flew off her neck, and fell into the water below. She did not care. She only stared at the girl in front of her, speechless and clueless. Skyla continued.

"My parents, they...I'm never good enough for them. They put me in a good school, but nothing I do ever makes them happy." She sounded sad, distant, and strange. Elesa kept thinking to herself that this could not be. This morose, miserable person in front of her could not be Skyla. These imperfections and agonies in her voice were not Skyla's.

 _You're not Skyla._

"But," Skyla hesitated, moving her gaze to the oblivion below them. "I know it's my fault when I let them down. It's always my fault. No matter how much I try..."

"..."

"So, I just wanted to escape for a little bit...that's all. I didn't want this. But I couldn't help it. You and your friends always made fun of me, too. I just felt bad all the time. Nothing I did made me happy anymore."

"Well, I'm sorry." Elesa apologized. The words felt foreign and weightless on her tongue. She almost did not believe she was the one to speak those words to begin with. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Skyla muttered. "But now you know. I'm nothing but a failure, Elesa. I've never been perfect, so, um…"

"Um?"

"So, I just always wondered why you thought I was. What made you think I was perfect?"

"Nothing ever bothered you!" Elesa yelled. "N-Nothing ever did...and everyone loved you, but you didn't even _do_ anything. I try so hard, y'know. I want them to notice me. I've been trying so hard but then you just…came out of nowhere..."

"Well, whatever it is," Skyla said, a bit confused by Elesa's words, "whatever it is, you're wrong about me. Okay? You're wrong."

The girls tensed up, and Elesa was unsure of what to do now. The wind was at her face, and the bridge was at her back. The endless water was beneath her feet, the blackened sky above her head. Skyla was at her side, but they were not sided together. These facts piled on top of one another, like bricks lining up to make a house that trapped Elesa inside.

She was very much trapped inside, yet she could do little about it. Skyla seemed to notice this, and could not help but smile. Even in situations like these, she still found time to smile.

And, in one fast and incomprehensible moment, Elesa watched everything unfold before her eyes. Skyla, in a movement that was half-graceful, half-awkward, twisted her body around so she faced the inside of the bridge. She stretched out her arms, and then loosened them, releasing her hold on the wires completely.

She was a blurred image of red and brown as she fell off the bridge. And Elesa stood still for a few seconds before she realized what had happened. Then, as if electrocuted by blitzle itself, Elesa jolted forward, and thoughtlessly dived off the bridge after Skyla.

Tears overflowed and her voice strained louder than it ever had before.

"Skyla!" She screamed. Her throat burned and her body felt cold—probably because she was falling and screaming and crying all at once. But she did not care about anything else, and was only able to repeat the same word over and over again.

" _Skyla!_ "


	5. 5a

Skyla was undoubtedly a bright girl. She was much brighter when she was younger, but the dimming lights of maturity could not be helped. For that period of time in her life where her light fluctuated unknowingly, her parents were to blame.

Skyla's parents were very strict, but very loving, as well. They seemed to change at the flip of a switch, and Skyla learned since youth that she had to adapt to whichever mood they chose to have for the day.

On good days, they were the best parents a kid could ask for. They were sweet, consoling, and loved Skyla more than anything. On those days, Skyla's mother would train with her, and her father would read her stories or let her help him in cooking their meals. On those days, the sun was bright and the moon was big and time was never spent in vain. On those days, Skyla could curl up on the couch or go for a run in the neighborhood and not have to worry about which was more suitable for the moment. On those days, Skyla received praise and homework got finished early and they all told jokes and ate heartily at the dinner table when nighttime came.

Those were good days, that was when her parents were "good".

On bad days, they were villains, tryhards, and anything that could make a child feel fearful. They were harsh, strict, and unforgiving. They did not spare Skyla, nor her feelings, and let it be known that they ruled the house with an iron fist. Her mother criticized her trainer skills for being too sloppy, despite Skyla being young and inexperienced. Her father yelled at her for any slight inconvenience, whether it was her clumsy cooking, her stuttered reading voice, or her "laziness" when she was not up and running at all hours. On those days, Skyla had to be careful of what she said, or her parents would yell at her or worse, lock her in her room. On those days, Skyla had to avoid her friends and other people as she was not allowed to leave the house. On those days, Skyla was not allowed to eat dinner with her parents but she still had to clean up after them.

Those were bad days, that what was when her parents were awful.

When she was younger, there were only good days. But more bad days started to arise suddenly, and on bad days Skyla never got anything done because she got trapped in a cycle of crying, waiting, and doing chores and fulfilling punishments that her parents deemed appropriate of her. Her homework lay unfinished, her friends unsatisfied, and her life unfulfilled for that day.

And when more bad days stacked on top of each other, it was harder to catch up. Her parents were awful in some cases, but mostly unreasonable in others. If Skyla got anything less than top scores in her class and tests, they punished her by staying home all day, and forced her to write standards, letters, apologies, and all sorts of garbage—for _hours_ straight. Her arms always ached and her eyes hurt from staring at white paper for too long. Then when she _was_ allowed back in school, she scored poorly on tests because she did not have time to study or work on the material like the other students did.

When her friends invited her to places, her parents always insisted that Skyla was "too busy". The reality was that she was forced to stay home, and forced to train or do chores while everyone else had fun. Then, her parents would admonish her for this same situation. They asked her why she "doesn't hang out with her friends" more often, or why she secluded herself in her room.

It was unreasonable at best and hypocritical at worst. Skyla never wanted to hold herself back—she wanted to run free and unbridled, but her parents were always the ones to rein her in. They were more controlling than they realized, and more influential than they ever thought they could be. Skyla was never physically harmed, however, but she always felt like her body had been ran over by a stampede of bouffalant at the end of the day. It was not tangible pain, but physical injury might have been better than what it was she was feeling.

And at night, she vaguely wondered if her parents were doing the right thing, or if it was Skyla that was in the wrong. After all, would they punish her so much if it were not her fault to begin with?

"No," she always answered herself. "They're adults, they know stuff...it _must_ be my fault." And after making herself believe that, she would cry herself to sleep, or at least until her parents heard her and they screamed at her for minutes straight to _shut up,_ already.

Nothing would ever quiet the thoughts inside her head, however. And her thoughts became less bright and less bubbly, and were more repetitive as a single phrase echoed over and over again.

 _It must be my fault._ She sighed. _It must be my fault._ She gulped. _It must be my fault._ She cried.

...

It would not have been so bad if school was better for her, but that was not the case. While she was easily popular and well-liked in general, there were always people snickering at her or doing mean things to her. They left mean and insulting notes on her desk, they tripped her in the halls, and they stole from her lunch box when break time came. They pointed and laughed at her when the teacher was not looking, and hit her with balls and other playground equipment when they had the chance at recess.

She just did not understand.

At the very least, she always beat them in battle. Her pidove was a trusted partner, one that she had been growing up with for years. When she was barely four years old, Skyla pointed out an injured pidove clinging to its life on the ground near the Castelia Sewers. Her parents were baffled, and brought the poor thing to the pokemon center. When it fully recovered, it never left Skyla's side and she never let it leave, either.

They were inseparable and they showed all the bullies away in battle, where they were virtually unstoppable. Because pidove was more than a bird with tricks—it was a bird with _skill_ and like Skyla, it was young, fresh, and ready to _fly._

It always reassured Skyla that no matter what hardships _she_ faced, pidove would always be able to fly away if things ever went too badly. No matter what happened to her, the bird could fly freely, and escape the terrible world if it wanted to.

"One day," she told pidove, "I'm gonna fly with you. And we're gonna get out of here."

The bird pokemon would nod and chirp happily, and Skyla would be all the more cheerier for it. Even when days were especially bad, it helped her to know that she still had a promise to keep, for pidove's sake if no one else's.

 _That's why,_ she thought to herself, _that's why I gotta hold on for just a little bit more. Just a little bit more!_

...

Skyla discovered the source of her suffering—from school, at least. There was no remedying her parents' harsh ways and she knew this, but school was a solvable matter.

And she finally solved it.

All of her problems stemmed from the same source. All of her problems lead back to a single problem, and that problem was a girl named Elesa.

Skyla was always wary of Elesa, because the blonde was a show-stopper in her own right. She was beautiful in a striking, demure way. She was always distant, withdrawn, but witty, too. She was paper thin and just as pale, but still attractive in some manner. Her grades were nearly perfect, and she was richer than the average person because her mother worked at a modelling company and her father worked at a business firm. Skyla felt sort of jealous, because both of _her_ parents were fitness trainers and airplane mechanics, and while they had equally respectable jobs as Elesa's parents, it was not nearly as glamorous or well-paid.

They were certainly not rich, either. But they were not poor—although anyone looked destitute compared to Elesa, who always wore designer clothes and expensive prints. And not to mention that Elesa's lunch was always full of high end food or leftovers from big restaurants, when Skyla's lunch was consisted of peanut butter sandwiches and cheese flavored chips. Elesa always had cute pencils and fancy stationery and other goods that were from overseas. Skyla had been using the same backpack since first grade, and she used discount school supplies because they worked just as well as fancy ones—although they were nothing impressive if she meant to impress someone with them.

Not to mention that Elesa's family constantly traveled the world, and she had stuff from Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and even Kalos! Skyla, despite her dream of flying and traveling, had not seen the world yet. She visited the Alola Region once, however, because of some relatives on her mother's side. But that was it.

In general, Elesa just seemed so perfect and untouchable that Skyla figured she would hardly have time to mess around with her. Because Elesa was pretty, shiny, blonde, and everything people wanted out of little girls like her. She was skinny, attractive and so many other things that Skyla was _not._ She could not imagine the girl having any sort of interest in her, and yet it was quite the opposite.

Skyla learned that Elesa was _only_ interested in her. It started off small, like most things do, but her fixation started growing uncontrollably. They had both been in the same class since the third grade, so they grew up together in a sense. But Skyla realized that in all those years, they never properly spoke. And rather, Elesa preferred hissing at Skyla in the halls than having a conversation in the playground. She spread rumors about Skyla, and made all her friends do stupid and insignificant things to her.

When she asked them why they left notes at her desk, they simply said that it was Elesa's idea. When she asked them why they make fun of her, they said it was because Elesa told them to. It was as if Elesa's word was as good as the law's, and it was horribly unfair.

Even more than that, it was ridiculous, and Skyla treated it as such. She found it was more effective (and much more satisfying) to ignore their taunts, or laugh back at them, smiling like nothing happened to her at all. Their faces would drop and they would be completely dumbfounded.

And when that happened, Elesa would stir wildly at her desk, looking angry and embarrassed. Skyla would catch glances of her in such a way, and laugh loudly from her own spot in the room. She really could not help it, after all, it was such a silly and immature thing they were doing.

They were _children,_ anyways. Skyla thought that someday, this would all be behind them and they could laugh about it together.

 _If Elesa knew how to laugh, anyway…_ Skyla thought to herself. Elesa never laughed, and the closest thing she had to that was a wicked giggle or snicker. Her emotions were always so watered down that Skyla wondered what kind of home Elesa lived in to make her that way. After all, kids learn from their parents, and Skyla would know that better than anyone.

From Skyla's own parents, she learned that the world just needed a little bit of brightness sometimes. She learned that nothing hurts an enemy like loving them, or someone being kind in the face of cruelty. Even if they could be cruel themselves, they knew from experience that kindness and light were huge factors in the game of life.

But part of Skyla knew that at some point, her light would dim down, and her smile would die off from her face. They would kill her smile at some time, she realized. Her laughter would become a martyr for their sick, juvenile games.

Until then, she would do her best to be bright. But it was so much easier said than done. After all, kids did not like other kids that did worse than them. And Skyla's bad days made her fall behind in school and in everything, generally. It would not take long until everyone hated her, or ignored her.

It would not be long until her smile was killed for good.

…

Of all the bad days, there was a single day that Skyla could call the _worst_ day of her life. It was a cloudy day, to start off with. The sun was not visible, and wind readings were very high.

Her parents were more irritable than ever, and became even more creative with their punishments for her. They would lock Skyla in the basement, where it was dark and there was no space to run. There was water and food down there, so she did not starve, but the thought of confinement itself was what had done her in. They also took away her Xtransciever—the earliest model to date—and threatened to break it apart. They confiscated her pokemon, too, and she had to settle for tranquill's muffled cries from behind the basement door. The bird flapped its wings in distress, and it called for Skyla sadly from the other side of the barrier.

That was the worst punishment they could have possibly thought of. And when they let Skyla out, it was time to get ready for school although she was dead tired since she did not sleep at all. The basement was dark and scary and kept her mind running for hours. When she walked outside, she vaguely wondered if the world ended because the sun was gone, too.

And when she arrived at school, things only worsened. While some kids still actively teased her, many fell back into their old, amicable ways. Skyla still had friends and people to talk to, but it was not the same as it used to be. It was awkward and stiff, even with good friends, and that was worse than them hating her or ignoring her entirely. Because if they hated her or ignored her, then at least their sentiments would have been clear and powerful. But here, their half hearted attempts at consoling or cajoling Skyla were just awkward and cringe worthy.

By lunchtime, the girl was alone to her own devices, and it was then and there that she finally felt the weight of everything at once. Her parents, her school, her life—everything was subpar at best and nothing really made her happy anymore. Before, school was better than home, but now they were both the same as she was treated unfairly by both her family and her friends. It was a hard imbalance and the pain of such a life was finally starting to affect Skyla.

Her smile was really dying, she realized. Before, she was so naturally jubilant and peppy that teachers always asked her to calm down. But now, it was hard to even _pretend_ to smile—to pretend to laugh, cheer, or care about anything. Friends' stories and jokes were not as interesting, and games and pastimes were not as engaging.

Her smile was _really_ dying. And it scared her. This scared her _so much_ because she always taught herself to smile, no matter what. She taught herself to be strong and hold on, because one day she would fly away with tranquill and they could escape this harsh world together.

But that was starting to be unreasonable and everything just crashed down at once. She wanted to cry, sob, and break down, but she could not.

Not when _Elesa_ was there, anyway. The girl did not bother Skyla as much anymore, but whenever she _did_ bother Skyla, she was spot on. Of all days to mess with Skyla, Elesa chose the worst one possible.

Even though she was not openly harmful or jarring, her fabricated niceties were too much as they slid out poisonously from her faked sweetness of a voice. Elesa's honeyed pleasantries were overwhelming, and each little vowel and consonant worked only to agonize her further.

Skyla could only keep up with the platitudes for so long. Her unenthused answers were too frequent, and her withdrawn shell could only take a few more hits.

The strike that did her in was the mention of being a pilot. Elesa inquired about her future—her _dream_ —to fly free and unbridled in the skies, and the thought of the endless world above compared to Skyla's cramped lifestyle only made it more obvious that she was as far from her goal as she could possibly be.

She was trapped.

Elesa finally stopped at this point, but by now she was far too late. And Skyla yelled at her for this and for everything as she ran out of the classroom in a rush. She bumped into desks and other students, but ignored all of them for her own sake. Then she dashed out of the school boundaries and fled into the streets.

There, she found herself at an intersection, without her backpack and without her partner (her parents have a habit of taking tranquill away from her, and today was one of those days). It was just her at the street lights with nothing and no one but herself. She looked around, but no one was chasing after her. None of the passersby glanced at her. Not a single person stopped for her.

Why would they? _Why would they?_ She thought bitterly to herself. _God, I'm such a mess…_

And then she wobbled across the street, and walked towards the Skyarrow Bridge, a place where she always found solace—especially in tough times. She looked to see if anyone was near her, and finding no one of the sort, Skyla fell to her knees and started crying and screaming loudly. Then her voice died and she had to settle for muffled whines and pathetic sobs.

Her smile was dead, dead, _dead_ , because she let everyone kill it. She indirectly ruined her smile by failing to protect it herself. She let her own unraveling be. And like beautiful red ribbons, she fell apart with a lack of grace and a lost beauty. Her sobs continued into the evening.

…

As the sun began to set, Skyla realized there was something standing over her shoulder. She turned around, and was face to face with a swanna. She almost screamed, but instead fell down in her clumsiness. The swan was amused, and poked at Skyla's head with its refined beak.

"Swa? Na?" It asked in a worried voice. "Swaaaana."

"You scared me, there." Skyla admitted, and she reached out to stroke its head. It was not the tranquill she was used to seeing, but it was still a bird and she knew the right spots to pet a bird. "Are you lost? Where's your trainer?"

The pokemon did not outwardly respond, so Skyla took its silence as a _no._ Of course, a trainer would be calling out for it by this point, and no one on the bridge appeared to be particularly alarmed that Skyla was with a swanna. They probably thought it was hers, anyway.

Oh, she wished it was hers. Despite her love for flying and battling, she only had one partner. Her parents did not allow her to catch any more pokemon—they probably thought that if Skyla had too big of a team, she would revolt against them somehow. She scoffed at the idea.

Swanna cooed, and wobbled a little closer to Skyla. Then, it dipped its head before her, spreading its wings in a rather strange display.

Skyla, apparently understanding of its intentions, gawked in confusion. "Wait, I'm too heavy! I can't ride on you—you don't look that big, either."

Swanna harrumphed in its own way, narrowing its eyes and elongating its voice. "Swaaaaanaaaa. Swa swa! Na!" As it to say, "What are you talking about? I'm strong enough!"

And maybe it was. Skyla had seen swannas before—her teacher had one that he sometimes brought to class. They were about four feet on average, but this swanna seemed bigger than usual. Its wings were stronger-looking, too, its limbs really well built for a _swan._ And Skyla figured that she striked out lucky, because no other swanna would be able to handle her weight or size, anyway.

But this one would. She could tell, from the smile on its face. A strange, wild pokemon had grown to like her out of nowhere, and now it wanted her to ride it as a sign of its strength. Huh. At least her terrible day was a little bit better now.

Without thinking, Skyla climbed on its back, and held onto its plumes tightly. The swanna leaped into the air, and then off the side of the bridge.

Skyla screamed.

She used to fly on tranquill when she was younger, but now she was too big for it. It would have to become an unfezant in order for her to fly on it again, and she has not flown on a pokemon since then. But she still remembered the rush of it all, and the feelings she felt when the air was the only thing between her and the bird underneath her.

Said bird seemed amused at her reaction. Soon enough, the swanna spread its wings out and lifted up from the dive, flying off in a perfect and unburdened manner. Skyla's screams soon morphed into hysteric laughs, and she nuzzled the swanna affectionately in the air.

"Oh, you big strong pokemon, you! You were just messing with me back there, weren't you?"

"Swanna!" It cried out, and did a loop in the air. Skyla cheered, and she felt her smile revive itself.

Oh, this was _so_ fun. She yelled, voice screeching into the night sky. No one replied, of course, and no one shouted for her or bothered her. It was quiet up in air, and there was nothing but the sound of swanna's wings and the wind beneath Skyla's feet to be heard. There was nothing but soft feathers and cold air, and the restless mind of a quite young, emotional girl.

…

The moon was out and full, and Skyla was standing at the edge of the bridge. Her gaze was cast downward, and the dark blue-black waters below were reflected in her eyes. She loved water, too, although no love could prevent the dark thoughts from forming in her mind.

One leap off the bridge, and she could possibly be free forever. She was a child, but she knew what it meant to do something this drastic. She knew that her life would never be the same, no matter what she decided to do.

At the very least, she would not have to worry about safety. The wild swanna that she befriended was flapping about underneath the bridge, cooing in anticipation as it waited for Skyla to jump. They were so wild and so careless together, Skyla thought it would be entertaining for both of them if Skyla were to jump off the Skyarrow Bridge, only for Swanna to fly out and catch her in midair.

It was dangerous in every way possible, but the _thrill_ of it all is what motivated them. Besides, Skyla and Swanna had spent the past few hours hopping and jumping and flying about, they knew better than to try something that had no chance of success.

It was all going according to plan. Skyla felt unburdened in the sky, and the sensation of the wind thrashing her hair and running through her body felt really good. It made her forget about school, home, and everything that was bothering her. It made her near-dead smile return to her.

It made her happy. And everything was going so well, until a certain girl came and ruined things like she always did.

"Skyla?"

Elesa's voice rung in Skyla's ears like a bell, and she frowned at the idea. _Why is she here?_ She wondered. _What does she want from me now?_

"Go _away_ , Elesa!"

She called out at the other in annoyance. Elesa had bothered her enough for a whole lifetime. She need not interfere now.

But Elesa did not know when to quit, apparently, and sought out Skyla anyway. They were both on the unsafe side of the bridge, facing watery doom and the wild winds. It was dark and the only thing that helped to aid their eyes was the sheer moonlight, and the flickering streetlights on the bridge.

Elesa spoke with absolute fear and regret. Skyla half-listened to her, while the other half of her consciousness fantasized about jumping off the bridge—or at least running away from Elesa at this very moment in time. She made out the situation to be one of bad timing. Elesa decided to pick _now_ of all times to apologize to Skyla, she picked now to finally speak to her like a person and explain the years full of malice towards her.

It was all for naught, however. Skyla did not need some half-hearted remark to make herself feel better. All she needed was her birds, the sky, and the wind. She did not need anyone or anything else right now.

Without a second thought, Skyla turned herself around, and spread her arms open as she fell backward into the unknown. With that bold movement, she was sure that Elesa could not and _would not_ follow her. Who would jump after someone off a bridge, after all?

Yet, something was wrong. The blurring vision around Skyla was not one of blacks and browns, but of yellows and whites. Directly above her, with outstretched arms and crying eyes, was Elesa, who desperately and guiltily called out for her.

"Skyla!" She screamed. " _Skyla!_ "

And the girl named Skyla closed her eyes, not wanting to see the scene unfold as it did. Swanna was big enough for Elesa _or_ Skyla, but certainly not for both. The bird would swoop in, and either fly off when seeing two falling girls and not the original single one, or it would save Skyla and leave Elesa to fall to her doom.

Either way, there was no possibility of them coming out of this situation unscathed, and their stubbornness would lead them both to the grave.

So, Skyla closed her eyes, and closed her mind to the world. She ignored everything—the wind, the cold, the girl screaming and crying above her—and waited for the end.

She waited.


	6. 6a

Skyla opened her eyes. The scene in front of her was not what she imagined at all. She pictured water, darkness, and maybe the faraway white feathers of the swanna's wings. She envisioned cold, silence, and Elesa's muffled voice in the air above her or in the water next to her. She thought of the Royal Unova, disappearing into the horizon while its passengers watched with horror as two girls fell off a bridge.

She saw none of those things, despite all of them making sense. Instead, she found herself sitting down and facing the walkway of the Skyarrow Bridge, with the sleek surface of it still impeccable in the night. The sounds of distant cars and pokemon could be heard in one soft, cacophonous chorus. And the swanna's white feathers _were_ in sight, but they were a few inches' nearby and _not_ disappearing into the black sky.

She opened her eyes and looked to her left. Elesa was there, just as she had been there before. But this time, she was shivering, disheveled, and exceptionally dull when she used to be radiant. Her eyes were downcast, and her thin arms wrapped around her frame weakly.

They were silent.

Skyla closed her eyes, and tried to remember how they got to this point. As far as she was concerned, they were still falling off the bridge, and heading straight into cold water. As far as she was concerned, the wild swanna she befriended was too weak to save two foolish girls from falling in mid-air, and it was flying away from view with each passing second.

So how was this scene possible? Skyla could not understand it. She banged her head against the railing in frustration, only to find that the action was extremely painful, and she pitifully thrusted forward in shock.

" _Perfect,_ " she grumbled sarcastically. "This is great."

"This is the exact _opposite_ of great," Elesa cut in. "In fact, this is terrible. W-We almost…"

"Died?" Skyla finished the statement, eyes narrowed and face reddened. "Yeah, we would have, if it weren't for swanna."

The pokemon in question cooed, and pecked at Skyla's head softly. It did the same for Elesa, albeit less affectionately. The blonde yelped, and instinctively swatted the bird away.

"Swaaa…" the creature cried out sadly. It tucked its wings back into its side, and looked elsewhere for the time being. Elesa showed momentary remorse, before hiding it away and turning her gaze to the side.

 _Stupid swanna,_ she cursed mentally.

"What a strong pokemon you are," Skyla praised aloud. "You must be, how else did you catch us in the air?"

"To be fair," Elesa pointed out, "it _barely_ caught you. It caught me first, and you almost fell completely in the water before it saved you."

This was something that proved itself to be true, as Skyla's body from the calf down was soaked in water. She watched the drops roll down her skin and crash onto the pavement, almost trance-like. She broke out of it after a moment or so, half-dazed but still bitter about the whole situation.

"That's true, but it saved us and that's what matters. I thought I would be too heavy for it, but…" she glanced at the bird again, sparing it a small smile. "This fella keeps surprising me!"

Swanna, noticing the small praise, cried out happily and spread its wings wide. The pearly white feathers were attractive for sure, such that Elesa felt envious that the bird was not as smitten with her as it was with Skyla. She almost wished she did not swat it away when it seemed to dote on her for that short moment.

 _But what do I care?_ She thought to herself. _It's just a stupid swanna. Blitzle could kill it in one hit._

"Don't you even care?" Elesa suddenly said. "I almost died, but all you care about is _swanna?_ "

"That's not true," Skyla argued. "I care, but like I said, the swanna is the hero today!"

"What were you even doing here in the first place?" Elesa called out. "Don't you know that your parents are looking for you?"

"They are?" the redhead blinked, but then scoffed at her own foolishness. Of _course_ they were looking for her. The girl had not returned home on time, and they were looking for someone to yell at. It was a really bad day, after all. She supposed that it could not get any worse from this point on.

"Yeah," Elesa said. "I-I was...I was looking for you, too."

"Why?" Skyla asked. "You don't even like me."

"That's not true!"

"Yes it is. You and your friends always say bad things about me. You spread rumors about me for no reason. You never even talk to me, except for today. You obviously don't like me."

"W-Well, it's not that I don't like you—"

"—you just like being mean to me?" Skyla huffed. "That's so terrible. You're _terrible._ "

"I am!" Elesa admitted. She paused for a moment, still as stone until she suddenly reanimated, the abrupt action throwing Skyla into a frenzied worry. Elesa ignored this, but hoped the pity showed itself on her face.

"I _am_ terrible. You're right about that. I think I've been mean to you, too. But I...but I want to change. Maybe."

" _Maybe?_ " Skyla echoed Elesa's words. "You're not _sure?_ "

"I mean, I have to be. I wouldn't look for you if I was still terrible, would I?"

"Yes, you would."

"The _point_ is," she said, "that I'm sorry. Okay? I'm sorry for... _everything_. We don't have to be best friends or anything, but I want you to know I'm gonna stop bothering you now."

Skyla eased up at that thought, but an inner doubt still controlled her words. "Really? You promise?"

"Promise."

"And you'll make your friends stop being mean to me, too?"

"Yes! They listen to anything I say, so when I tell them to stop, they will."

Skyla frowned. She turned away from the other, and huffed out angrily. "No, they won't. They've been so mean to me, I don't think they'll stop. How do I know you're being honest? Don't lie to me, Elesa."

"I'm not lying!" she screamed. She did not have the energy to stand up yet, but she settled for going on her knees. The blonde placed one of her small hands on the redhead's shoulders, and pushed her in such a way that she made Skyla face her.

"I'm _not_ lying, I swear!" Elesa wanted to cry. She never said this kind of words before, but in light of her new, sudden resolve to reconcile with Skyla, she would say them a thousand times over. "I swear to God, I'm not lying! I don't wanna be mean to you anymore. I'm tired of it."

"You don't have to swear to God or anyone else," Skyla insisted, looking embarrassed. "Fine, fine. I'm not forgiving you right away, but I don't think you're lying. If you're really sorry, then I'll think about it."

Elesa stared blankly at her, but then nodded her head. "Okay," she said. "But you'll see I'm serious about this. You'll see."

"I will," Skyla assured, "but I will _later_. We should go home. We're probably both in big trouble now."

Elesa seemed unamused, as the thought of her parents caring about her missing curfew or not was far from reality. If anything, the only person that was in any type of parental trouble right now was Skyla. But Elesa kept that idea to herself, and merely played along with her sentiment.

"Probably. Let's go, Skyla." Elesa stood up shakily, and extended her hand to the other. It trembled, as if the thought of taking another person's hand in hers was a frightening experience. For Elesa, it might have been. This idea of the formation of intimacy with anyone was brand new, sculpted out of impulsiveness and emotional instability. But Elesa wanted it still.

She would never have another chance after this, anyway. Not after what the two of them had been through, not after the troubles they put each other through.

It was now or never, and that possibility made Elesa's hand rock side to side, as if something was moving it. Skyla began to get up on her own accord, and was halfway there until she decided to appease the other, and meekly grasp at the pale hand in front of her.

The two looked at each other, and in that moment the warm skies met the cold ice. Their eyes were similar in color, but different in shade.

The contact broke, and Elesa was left feeling icy as she obediently followed Skyla's lead, and the two of them ignored the concerned looks of passerbys as they walked.

...

The sun showed signs of rising by the time they returned to their homes. Elesa's house, large and modern, was dark and quiet when she came through the front door. Her parents usually slept in early, anyway, due to their rigorous work hours. If not, they were out so late that Elesa could not even comprehend living on the schedule they did. There was no one awake except for Elesa, not even the house maids as they had probably returned home by now.

In that empty, cold home, Elesa found solitude in her room, where she bundled up in countless blankets as if that would combat the chill she felt inside.

The day's events unfolded in her mind, and yet they did not seem to make sense to her. She felt as if it were all a dream, and this whole time she would actually be asleep, and tomorrow she would wake and everything would go the way it was.

Elesa would wake up, get ready for school, and meet up with the dummy kids that followed her lead like the simpletons they were. They would chatter, gossip, and make fun of anyone that was not them. They would arrive at school, and claim their territory on the swings, or at the large tree in the yard. They would eat lunch and then mess with Skyla. They would do their homework and talk about how ugly and fat Skyla is. They would do everything as they normally did.

Except...except they could _not._ No, Elesa promised Skyla, and swore to God (and anyone else, if she wanted to) that she would stop being mean to her. She begged Skyla to believe her, and insisted that she herself was not lying in the least. Because of this, she could not go about her day normally. Her definition of normal would change drastically.

As if to remind her of this, a singular white feather fell unto her lap. Undoubtedly it was a single plume in the swanna's coat left behind. The girl was unaware of it until now, probably because it was on her head this whole time. Still, she picked it up gingerly, and ogled its whiteness in the dim settings of her room.

It was _not_ a dream. Elesa indeed had jumped off a bridge to chase after a girl she supposedly hated, and a swanna that was stronger than normal saved her life. To add to that, Elesa had promised the same girl that she would change, and put an end to the years of hate she had built against her.

It was a tall order, for sure, as people do not change so easily. But Elesa would have to change quickly without a doubt. If not, she would be branded as a liar, a fake, and her facade would be seen through. She could handle being a nicer person and making new friends, but she could _not_ handle the years of self-management and deception being broken down, and all of her hard work for building up her image amount to nothing.

And for that, she would have no choice but to be the nicer girl she promised she would be. Even if that girl is nonexistent—and even if the niceties are so terribly conceived—she would have to change. It was the thought that counted, and it will be the thoughts that matter in the end.

Elesa grinned at the thought of it all, and placed the feather on her bedside drawer. She buried herself deeper in her mess of blankets, and shut her eyes which suddenly felt as heavy as weights.

She felt warmer than she did before, but the innate coldness still lingered. Elesa ignored it, and fell herself slip easily into slumber.

In that land of dreams, she imagined herself and Skyla riding the backs of giant swannas and swimming in the sky. She pictured the two of them laughing, and Skyla praising her for being such a nice person. She saw her parents, her classmates, and the whole world before them, all of them in wonder of such a bright star. Her parents got on their knees and apologized for everything, and her classmates chanted her name. The whole world cheered for her.

 _Elesa!_ They shouted. _Elesa!_ They screamed. _Elesa!_ They cheered.

 _Elesa! Elesa! Elesa!_


	7. 7a

Elesa woke up earlier than normal. Her sweet dreams were rather short and once they ended, her mind woke itself up forcibly. Her eyes were somewhat blinded by the morning glow coming from the window. The pale sunlight barely squeaked through the gap in her curtains, and its bright blue-yellow shade hinted at just how _early_ she had gotten up.

Still, she decided that there would be no point in delaying. After all, she would have a very busy day ahead of her, one that would be full of changes. The thought of it excited her and scared her at the same time, and she washed her face with cold water many times because of it.

Once she put on some clean, expensive clothes, she prepared her school supplies and headed out of her bedroom. Her parents, having either left or not woken up yet, were not to be seen in the house. It was not as if that was a rare occurrence (really, it was quite the opposite) but the fact that they were absent gave Elesa a strange, unfamiliar sense of dread. She did her best to ignore it, and headed for the fridge.

The handle felt foreign in her hand, and when she saw the array of food and drinks inside, she felt as if she stumbled upon some stranger's supply, or that she had entered the public supermarket. Breakfast, and most meals in general, was not usually in Elesa's schedule. But her stomach started to hurt with emptiness, such that the blonde nearly keeled over in hunger. It was not a new feeling, but if she wanted the day to go as smoothly as it should, she would need to have energy.

The girl chose a yogurt cup, pecha berry flavored mixed with granola. She grabbed a plastic spoon, and decided to eat it as she walked to school. A last minute checklist was mentally made, and seeing that everything was in order, Elesa walked outside.

…

The sunlight from before seemed just a little bit brighter, and the shadows of the houses and trees cast over the streets like giants. The neighborhood seemed subdued, and the only sign of waking life was the stray lillipup in the distance. Elesa watched it as it struggled to climb inside of a trash can. It was meek and scrawny, completely different than the contest-bred lillipups Elesa was used to seeing (or a regular, healthy lillipup that could be found in the wild). Its fur was mangled, as if something or someone had gone and purposely tampered with it. The light browns were stained with dark shades, and any semblance of cleanliness was lost forever.

Elesa scrunched her nose, and tried to ignore it. But for some reason, she could not tear her eyes away. Maybe it was because the dog was tearing through plastic wraps and leftovers, but it stared directly at Elesa. Its eyes were dull and bleak, filled with exhaustion and hunger. Its snout was wet and covered in filth. Even if lillipups were small creatures, this one seemed exceptionally miniscule.

And it kept _staring_ at her. Elesa had no idea why it was so fixated on her. _It's not like I have food or anything,_ she thought.

 _Oh wait,_ she realized, _I do._

The yogurt cup in her hand might have seemed appetizing, especially to a being that had not eaten in weeks. Elesa had half the mind to dump the treat at the dog's feet, but part of her wondered if yogurt was good for lillipups in the first place.

She supposed she did not want the weight of a dead lillipup on her shoulders. It would be better to be nice to it, than not. As such, Elesa reached into her bag, and pulled out a few berries from her case. They were meant for blitzle, but it would not hurt to give away a few cheri berries or two.

Elesa held out the fruits, and the lillipup sniffed her palm and the objects before taking them. It ate ravenously, and glanced at the girl when it was done. She snorted at it.

"What, you're still hungry? I'd be full if I was you."

"Lil…" it whined in a low tone. It was half-menacing, half-exasperated. Elesa kept a hand on blitzle's pokeball as a precaution, but ultimately gave in to the lillipup.

She reached deeper in her bag, and underneath the lunchbox and berry case was a real treat. Her parents had bought a whole case of Old Gateau, imported straight from Sinnoh. Blitzle had not taken a liking to the food, and Elesa herself was not a fan of eating in general. But a lillipup, down on its luck and apparently alone, would appreciate it more than anyone.

And it did. Its eyes seemed a little sharper and a little brighter as it ogled the snack. In a one-two-three motion, it ate the Old Gateau until there were only crumbs remaining in Elesa's hand. Even then, the dog licked her palm hungrily, sweeping away the last of its meal.

Elesa was mostly disgusted, and reached for some hand sanitizer before anything else. When she looked back, the lillipup was already starting to leave, but it gave one last glance at Elesa.

"Well," she cried out after it, "stop digging through the trash, okay? There's better food out there than this."

It blinked, and Elesa figured that it was too dumb to understand anything she was saying. The dog ran off, and Elesa stood up.

A small distraction just occurred, something that she never used to allow to happen before. But if she was going to be nicer, she had to start somewhere.

Closing up her bag, the girl continued her trek to school.

The sun was up, now.

...

Elesa arrived at the trainer's school exceptionally early. The gates were left halfway open, and only a few meandering souls could be seen. It was mostly the school staff—janitors and the like—but as long as someone was there Elesa did not feel too bad about being so alone. She hiked up the stairs and went further in the campus.

With her being so early, all of the classrooms were closed and the only places open to the students were the cafeteria and the recess fields. Luckily Elesa ate earlier in the day (although the yogurt cup still had some leftovers in it) and she did not need to stop by the lunch room. Instead, she headed out into the recess fields, in that ambiguous, grassy spot between the battlegrounds and the playground set.

Her hand caressed the outside of blitzle's pokeball for a short second, until it grasped the object in full and held it out in front of her. Activating its mechanism, the zebra pokemon appeared before her in a bright, instantaneous light.

Blitzle was quite lean, now that it was in view. It used to be a scrawny mess, and while it could stand to gain a few more pounds, it was much more impressive than it used to be. Due to her parents' reversing personalities, Elesa was free to stuff the pokemon as she pleased. Sadly she did not know how to make it overeat (it was a blessing that it could eat regularly, anyway) so she settled for feeding it on a normal basis. Not to mention that its grooming was more well kept these days, and its combat prowess was improving, too. There was nothing to stop the blitzle now from evolving to its full potential and last stage of zebstrika.

The girl could see the anticipation in her partner's eyes, one that meant it was itching for the chance to transform. But nature deemed it unworthy, and it remained as a blitzle for an indefinite amount of time. Elesa was in no rush, after all. She was only twelve and if she still had time, then so did the blitzle.

That did not mean she did not have to train it, however. Seeing as there were no opponents yet, she commanded the zebra to charge at the sturdy tree trunks, or to scare the wild patrats away with its sparks. In doing so, Elesa could see its progress and strength slowly build up, and she knew that evolution would reward blitzle soon. The thought of it enlivened her, and she spared herself some rapid giggles because of it.

As time went on, more students and staff started appearing, and the pale sun in the distant horizon darkened as it rose higher in the sky. Elesa watched the sunrise in this way, and vaguely wondered if Skyla was going to be at school today.

Her parents must have been livid to know that their daughter ran away during schooling hours. Any normal, average parent would be sick with worry. And Elesa had only witnessed Skyla's parents for a few moments at best, but she had the strangest feeling that they were not kind in situations like last night.

If Skyla showed up to school today, it would be a miracle and then some. Elesa sighed as the school bell rang, and she called her blitzle to her side. They walked together towards the classroom, and she happily fed the pokemon a few berries.

"Well, Blitzle. It's time."

…

Elesa took her designated seat, one which was situated in the middle of the classroom and somewhat in the back. It did not matter where she sat since she garnered all attention, anyway, but it did bother her slightly that Skyla's seat—which was closer to the front and off to the side—was far away from hers. Yet there was nothing she could do about that, for the arrangement of the seats were something that was left to the teacher.

Although if she tried hard, she could convince that old fool to let her do what she wanted. But she did not want to try her luck just yet.

The classroom filled up quickly as other children put their things away in cubby holes and on hooks, and chatter enveloped the space as many of Elesa's friends (and lackeys, in a sense) started to flock to her.

"Elesa, did you see the latest episode of Unova's Top Model last night?"

"Elesa, my mom bought a purse the other day, I think it's from your mom's collection!"

"Hey, Elesa. Wanna see my drawing? It's not nearly as good as yours, but I was inspired."

"Are you eating with us today? We saved the best seat for you."

It was inquiries and statements such as those that Elesa was used to. After all, when it came to gossip or opinions, she was the one that the class sought after. Her image was well formed by now, and no one thought to think otherwise. Her countenance lifted as the natural desire for attention and admiration showed itself in Elesa. She loved the glossy eyed stares she received—she _obsessed_ over how they worshipped her in a small way.

When the corners of her eyes detected red, she stopped for a moment. It was Skyla, for sure, and she seemed neither happier nor sadder than she was yesterday as Elesa left her. She wore a usual outfit of shorts and a camisole shirt, and there were no visible bruises or scars left anywhere on her body. Not that Elesa was paying attention for that in particular, but it relieved her to know that Skyla's parents weren't cruel to her for staying out late last night.

At least, not _physically_ cruel. She did not know their true natures, nor the way they carried themselves in their own home. She did imagine a terrifying look on the father, and a disappointed grimace on the mother.

This creative scene broke in half when one of the students waved their hand in front of her face. "Elesa? You alright there?"

"Yes," she answered quickly, "just fine. Of _course_ I've seen the latest episode, I'm so glad that Amy girl got eliminated. And thanks, I'll tell my mother that you enjoyed her work. Also I don't really care about your drawing, and _no_ , I'm not sitting with you guys at lunch today."

The students, mostly satisfied in their answers, had mixed emotions as they nodded and dispersed farther away from Elesa's seat. One curious girl, however, remained at her side, and tilted her head in confusion.

"You don't want to sit with us today? Who else are you gonna sit with?"

Elesa did not glance at Skyla, but she wondered if it was a brave move to say the girl's name. After all, she did not know if Skyla would reject her offer to sit with her at lunch or not, and in case she did Elesa did _not_ want to be embarrassed by her blunt words. Rather, she would have to ask Skyla later if the notion itself was even _conceivable_ , let alone possible.

In not so many words, the blonde answered. "I don't know yet. I'm thinking about studying during lunch, though. This isn't a school for nothing."

…

The day went by as it always did. Lectures, lectures, and a demonstration about how important status moves were, given by the teacher himself. During the demo, he brought the children outside to one of the mock battle grounds.

He was known to have a swanna as a partner, so he faced it against another student's snubbull. "Alright, Swanna!" He called out to it. "Featherdance!"

The bird spread its wings wide, and lifted off gracefully into the air, leaving a few milky feathers drifting down from its plume. The children _oohed_ and _aahed_ like they had never seen a swanna before. And if Elesa were not present on Skyarrow Bridge the other day, she would have been just as amazed.

Her icy gaze shifted ever closer to Skyla's figure, and noticed how the other girl was so engrossed in the demonstration, despite knowing a swanna herself. _Oh,_ Elesa immediately thought, _what happened to that bird, anyway? Maybe I'll ask Skyla later…_

"Wow!" A student cried. "It's dancing!"

Elesa looked and saw that the bird in question was not really dancing, but moving in a way that its feathers fell in rhythmic patterns around the snubbull. The small dog pokemon was anxious, and seemed to be affected by the status move.

"Status moves don't matter!" The student opponent cried out, making Elesa nearly laugh at how ridiculous he sounded. "Snubbull, tackle it!"

The dog barked somewhat, and readied itself as it threw its body into the air in the swan's direction. Despite the full force tackle, it seemed to barely affect the swanna at all as the bird majestically swatted the puppy away with one of its wings, as if it were a fly and not a dog like it was.

The snubbull fell on its butt, and was dazed by its own rash movements. Its owner was in shock, just realizing for the first time in his scholastic history that maybe status moves _were_ effective, in their own right.

The teacher's ego was ever so lifted from this show, and he continued lecturing to the students. "You see? Featherdance lowers the attack of the opposing pokemon. Since your snubbull is so physically weak already, having its attack lowered means that my swanna barely feels anything from that tackle. Now, watch this! Swanna, use Brave Bird!"

It followed the commands effortlessly, and the whole class watched as the snubbull was pummeled into the air, knocked out as it landed on its own two feet.

The class cheered and hollered, and even Skyla was impressed although she probably knew the bit about status moves, already. The teacher was ever so pleased, and in such a good mood as he announced to the class.

"Alright, now that I've shown you that, let's take a break. Enjoy lunch, kiddos!"

…

It was like he released the hounds from their cages. The kids screamed and ran in different directions. Some called their partners out to play, while others geared up for more battle training with each other. Elesa did neither as she sought out a single student, the girl she used to hate up until this point.

Skyla was found resting underneath a tree, and her tranquill was sitting in a branch above her. The bird was utterly content by itself, and preened its feathers before resting its head on itself and snoozing away.

Elesa envied how carefree it was, but then remembered that she had a reason to be there, and that reason was _not_ to gawk at Skyla's evolved partner. She cleared her throat before speaking.

"Hey, Skyla."

"Hi Elesa." Her tone was not hostile or bitter like Elesa feared, but it was not as warm or bubbly as Skyla was known for being. To this, the blonde seemed slightly uncomfortable, but continued in her attempt at reconciliation anyway.

"I'm keeping my promise," she said, "I haven't bothered you. I'm gonna tell everyone to leave you alone, too."

"Okay," Skyla simply replied. "One of your friends actually threatened to steal my lunch earlier. Maybe you should start there."

"What?" Elesa asked, actually baffled that the others have started to harass her this early in the day. Maybe it was not as shocking as she sounded like, but it still bothered her nonetheless. "W-Well, I didn't tell them to do that—"

"Uh-oh," Skyla warned, "It's almost like they've got minds of their own."

"Hey, are you being sarcastic?" Elesa questioned, eyes narrowing in a familiar heated fashion. "What's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"Elesa, not everyone will do everything as you say." Skyla pointed out. "You're not the queen of Unova, or something."

"I don't think Unova _has_ a queen—"

"—that's beside the point!" Skyla interrupted, making sure that the wayward conversation kept its central meaning. "I mean, it's just that I expected this. There's no way you can stop all the bad things from happening just 'cause you want them to. Even if you promised, I've always known that you'll actually break it—"

"Whoa, whoa, _whoa!_ " Elesa interjected, "I haven't broken any promise yet! The day's just started, y'know? Gimme a chance!"

"I am. I'm just letting you know that I don't believe it'll last." Skyla chided, the cold edge to her words unusually hurt and forward. They were unlike her, definitely, and Elesa could not understand where the sudden animosity came from.

Still, she decided to work with it like any other thing, and huffed out an indignant breath. "Fine. I'll show you, Skyla! Today's the day that you'll see!" She stomped away from her, and headed to where some of her fellow classmates were.

There, she could see them laughing and playing as children ought to, and her sudden appearance in their vicinity was received warmly as they all simultaneously shouted her name, and gathered around her like she was a priest giving a sermon.

She tried not to giggle and remained serious. "Okay," she announced to everyone, "no one's allowed to bother Skyla anymore. Leave her alone now."

Most of them were apparently okay with this idea, but a few of them seemed confused. "What do you mean?" they asked her.

"It's no fun anymore," Elesa supplanted that as her reasoning as she did not want the other students to know that she wanted to reconcile with Skyla, instead. "In fact, it's not fun at all. So because there's no use in doing it, we're quitting! Okay? Everyone hear me?"

They all adhered to the idea at once, although Elesa did receive a few glares here and there. Skyla was either liked by the students who were not Elesa's underlings, or despised by those who _were_ Elesa's underlings. And when kids had someone to be their punching bag, they desperately hated it when they couldn't rely on that person for entertainment anymore.

Elesa could see this in their eyes, and she shivered from the way they glanced over to Skyla with scheming expressions.

Skyla had called her the queen, but Elesa had a devastating feeling that she had become overthrown in some small way without her knowledge. And when that happened she really wondered if she could protect Skyla, just as she promised she would.

…

The rest of the day flew by without incident. Elesa spent her time socializing or doing her homework, and really did implore to the class that she wanted no more harassing done to Skyla from this point on. She truly detested it, and made sure to shoot down anyone that still celebrated in the idea of it.

It was strange because she was never one to be so openly distasteful. Many times in the past she had restrained herself for her image's sake, and here she was openly disregarding it for someone that was completely out of Elesa's league.

Or at least, that was what the class was made to believe. Elesa's conditioning paid off in small ways such as this, and while a majority of the students found the "hating Skyla" act to be old, a few of them only agreed for the verbal trust, and stared back at the blonde and redhead as they did so.

Elesa had no idea what was to come, but she knew that it was _coming._ Her stomach knotted itself again, an act that was becoming far too often these days. She was not so brave as to declare friendship or amicability with Skyla, but in proper situations she interacted with her and even spared her a smile.

For those few moments in time, things were well and placid, and Elesa almost forgot the years of hatred she built against this girl in the first place. She almost forgot all her grief and sadness in one, foolish motion. She found her reality again and dreaded the moment where she would have to change her image, for better or for worse.

 _But why,_ she thought to herself, _is it starting to feel like it's for worse?_


	8. 8b

_Note: Yooo this update has been long in coming, I'm so sorry this fic is taking forever to get going! Let me just say that this fic marks the turning point. After this, the next chapter will have a considerate time skip. It's the second arc of this fic, if you think about it that way. (That's also reflected in the chapter titles, too!)_

 _So, thanks for being patient with me! Enjoy!_

* * *

Elesa realized the mistake she made in leading the other students around as her lackeys. While most of them agreed that bothering Skyla was boring now, the rest of them were less than willing on giving up their old ways. After all, they relied on Skyla to take the butt end of their jokes, and they were used to bad-mouthing her to the extent which they had been doing for the longest time. To suddenly stop at the demand of the person who started it all to begin with was not something they could easily agree with.

So they didn't. They _didn't_ agree with Elesa, even though they verbally indicated otherwise. It was so easy to lie to their leader who had become complacent over the past few days. Whatever made her change her heart suddenly wasn't a strong enough incentive for any of them, and so they continued their harmful ways towards Skyla despite Elesa's warning not to.

When the blonde wasn't looking, it became too easy to pick at Skyla from behind, or mutter poisonous words about her current state of affairs in a voice too low for publicity but too loud for secrecy all at once. They _wanted_ Skyla to hear their insults—they _wanted_ her to bear witness onto their juvenile displays of bullying and taunting.

They wanted her to know that contrary to popular belief, they had minds of their own and could act without Elesa's words commanding their every action. As such, they moved like gears that had spun independently of the master core—they were klinks and klangs that were disconnected and too independent to become klingklangs.

They were everything and anything Skyla feared they were, and so she wasn't so shocked to see them act as terrible as they did. She warned Elesa, didn't she? She told her that this would be the outcome, because people existed and lived by their own guidelines, and no matter how much they revered or admired someone, there would always be desires that outmatched their loyalty to that person. In this case, the other students that loved to hurt Skyla would continue doing so, even if it meant that they would be putting their relationship with Elesa on the line. It wasn't unexpected to anyone, except for Elesa herself.

Skyla wanted to laugh. But she kept to herself and her tranquil, choosing to ignore the others' taunts for now as she ran her hands through the bird's plume. It trilled happily beneath her touch, and she smiled at the sight of her partner's strength and size increasing. Even if things had been rough lately, the fact that her pidove could still evolve was a good sign. It meant it was one step closer to becoming an unfezant, and that Skyla was one step towards her dream.

She could be free. Ever since her parents blew up on her since she went missing for a short time, she started fantasizing that she could run away once her partner became an unfezant. When it reached that last evolutionary stage, then it would be big enough to hold her, and she could fly away with it and they would be able to do everything they've always wanted to do. They might even take the bridge swanna with them, and Skyla would have not one but _two_ beautiful bird pokemon at her side during her journey.

She would be safer that way, and she might stand a chance against their parents in case they chased her out before she could make a getaway. The thought of it brought a wide smile to her face, and for a brief moment in time, it was as if everything was perfect. There would be nothing holding her back. She didn't like her classmates, and she certainly didn't know if she liked her parents anymore (but a part of her whined that she still loved them, despite everything). So it would be too easy to abandon them all.

After all, Castelia City was huge, and there were too many adjoining suburbs and communities for them to get riled over a single girl. If Skyla ran away, she would be no different from the hundreds of children that dreamed of the same thing in their youthful years. The news wouldn't make a big deal out of her, and her classmates would be confused but ultimately they would be helpless to stop her. Everything was connecting together in her head to make one beautiful, bright picture.

The image was of Skyla soaring through the horizons with her soon-to-be unfezant (and an additional swanna by her side, if it wants to), held back by nothing but her own weight and the wind as her hair flied out in sweeping waves of red—as the buildings were nothing but lines beneath her and the sun was her only guidance in a world full of artificial light.

That new image was her goal, now. And nothing seemed particularly convincing for her to stay otherwise.

Not even Elesa, Skyla decided. _Especially_ not Elesa.

…

Elesa understood that things got out of hand rather quickly. Even if most of her friends and followers agreed to leave Skyla alone, she could see that a subgroup diverted from her words, and that they were dead set on tormenting Skyla until the day she died.

(Or until the last day of school, which could have been the same thing, in retrospect.)

She pursed her lips in obvious distress, hands shaking feebly at her sides with a watered down sort of anger. It would have been worse, but a small part of her admitted that she saw this coming. The tiniest part of her—the part that _wasn't_ plagued by lies or warped beyond belief—knew that this outcome was inevitable. But Elesa hadn't listened to that side of herself in the longest time, so it was all too easy to shut out the obvious signs that showed themselves before her.

 _No no no,_ she thought. _This wasn't supposed to happen._

And yet it _was_ happening. Lunch was over, and class had reached a lull in its structure. The instructor had let the children work on the project—which was really just an over-exaggerated coloring assignment, since no one paid good attention to the educational words that accompanied big blank diagrams of legendary pokemon—by themselves, so most of the kids were spread out across the classroom and holding crayons in tandem with each other. The usual group had accompanied Elesa, and ogled her clean lines and fashionable color choices before falling into work themselves.

Slightly apart from them, however, was the divergent group of children that had defied Elesa's orders. They did this behind her back, but now they acted boldly as they openly antagonized Skyla—and right in front of Elesa, too.

It was a huge statement, and the air turned stagnant and cold because of it. Elesa's hair on the back of her neck stood up on end, and her hands shook ever so slightly. They were moving so precisely with their name calling and teasing, Elesa hardly had any time to think of a plan. Because even though she promised Skyla that she would stop all the nasty things the others did to her, she was too hesitant to step out and outright defend her. The rest of the class was oblivious to their renewed relationship (could it be called that, though?) and had no idea about their conversation that transpired on Skyarrow Bridge just a day previously. They had no idea that Elesa didn't want to hate Skyla anymore, or that she loathed the sight of the other girl suffering so easily at the hands of others now.

They had _no_ idea. But Elesa was hesitant to correct them. After all, for her to flock to Skyla's side after being the biggest bully to Skyla herself was a strange and bitter thing to do. It would defy everyone's expectations of her—it would _rend_ her very image into a new, uneven shape. She would have to start over from scratch, and if not she had to reorganize the predisposed roles in her head and redistribute them out as she saw appropriate. To label the other students as friends, enemies, and that gray space in between was a tedious task.

If she defended Skyla right now, she might have more enemies than friends. She might even not have any friends left, if Skyla didn't accept her at the end of the day. The thought of it sent chills to her core, something she hadn't felt since that guest speaker from Icirrus City had showed off their cryogonal to the classroom all those days ago.

Elesa's hands hesitated to move with the rest of her, and she stood dumbfounded as the scene unfolded before her.

"Is this your coloring project?" one of them asked Skyla. The girl wasn't as disturbed by their antics as she should have been, but the indifference she once carried herself with wasn't there, either. There was a distinct look of _worry_ in her eyes, those deep blue eyes that always seemed so resolved.

Elesa knew better than to think of Skyla as some impenetrable fortress, however. The redhead was just as weak and normal as everyone else.

(Just as weak as _Elesa_ was, even.)

"No, it's my math homework," she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes for extra effect. "Of course it's my coloring project! What about it?"

"Your coloring is outside the lines!" one of them teased. "It's no surprise that you're as stupid as ever, though."

"Yeah, you're so _dumb!_ Aren't you gonna get held back a grade, after all? Stupid, stupid Skyla!"

"Why'd you even bother coming back to school?" another student prodded her. "We liked it better when you were gone!"

"Yeah, the classroom didn't smell so _bad."_

"And it was so much better when your annoying voice was gone!"

"And there was space for the rest of us to sit! Fatty! Fat Skyla!"

Their words were a bit displaced, but they flowed to their extent, anyway. Even though it wasn't the first time that they slandered Skyla's name before, it was the first time that they were so _direct_ about it. The teacher wasn't that faraway, and most of the other students were in earshot. While it was understood that people liked to bully Skyla, they mostly did it under a subterfuge. They were sneaky and left notes, whispered behind her back, and spread rumors in her name. They never got so up close and _personal_ about the matter, yet that's exactly what they were doing now.

Elesa felt a pit grow in her stomach. Her hands felt feeble as they swayed back and forth without stability. Her eyes went wide at the realization that Skyla was _right._ Elesa's word was usually law, but these people had grown indifferent to her authoritative power. These people would abandon their leader's words and actions if it meant satisfying their own sick needs. In this case, they needed Skyla as their punching bag. They needed her to take the blame of what was the frustration of their _own_ failures. They projected hatred onto her, not realizing that at the end of the day, they hated themselves more than they could ever pretend to hate Skyla.

This was their catharsis, and Elesa was a fool for not realizing it earlier. She was a fool to think that everything would go smoothly if she went with the flow. To change one's image was a strenuous, lengthy process. Her whole life up to this point had been to cultivate her own image, one that shone with glamour, allure, and beauty all at once. An image that clearly showed her confidence and natural ability to go beyond the expectations of others, and to crush their expectations beneath her very heels. She was cold, distant, and unreachable in almost every way. She was paper thin and just as fragile, but still held together with threads of vanity and ambition.

She was Elesa, the shining star of the class and the girl that everyone looked up to and feared. She was Elesa, the top student and most beautiful child in the bunch, one that would grow to become a woman of equal standards. She was Elesa, a princess that trampled over the other royals if it meant securing a throne for herself.

She was Elesa, and she should have marveled at this juvenile display. She should have giggled wickedly behind her hand and let the other students tear Skyla—her rival, former enemy, anything but _friend_ —to shreds. She should have gossiped to the girls around her, and spread even more bad words about Skyla to their naive ears. She should have done everything to enhance this torment, and if not, she should have stood to the side and let it happen.

Instead, Elesa did neither of those things. Her chest was beating so loudly that her ears throbbed, but she didn't care. Her body screamed at her with every fiber of its being to _stop_ whatever it was she had planned, but she didn't listen. Her mind reeled with the calculated outcomes of the others' reactions when she finally acted, but she set those aside.

Elesa was silent and assured when she reached into her bag, and pulled out her blitzle's pokeball. She summoned it to the classroom, letting its bright and electric body become a tiny spectacle that the rest of the class ogled. It whined at the sudden action, but grew silent with shock as it realized it was inside of a building instead of outside in a battlefield. The zebra pokemon took up space in an empty part of the classroom, and onlooking students gawked at its sudden appearance.

The teacher noticed this, too, and he sputtered over himself. "Elesa? What are you doing with your pokemon right now?"

She didn't answer him. Everyone stared at her now, wondering what had the smartest student and the best girl in class acting this way. Even Skyla glanced over from her place at her desk, although her tormentors were far too distracted by their passionate insults to notice this.

It was quieter, suddenly, and Elesa sucked in a laborious breath. She walked over to her blitzle, hips swaying all the while. Then she whipped out a few berries from her berry case, and fed it to it in loving motions. Blitzle seemed confused by this sudden affection, but accepted it nonetheless. When the treats were finished, she ran her fingers alongside its bristling fur, and relished at the static energy she felt pooling beneath her fingertips.

"Blitzle," she said to it quietly. "You know Skyla and tranquil? Well, I've decided that I don't want to hate them anymore. I didn't tell you about what happened, so I'll explain everything later. For now, I want you to not hate them anymore either, okay? It's so totally lame."

"Bliz?" it asked in a low voice, eyes blinking wide at the revelation. "Bliz!" it sparked with a renewed understanding of the situation, and Elesa was thankful for it. She had to give this little beast more credit, after all. Not only for putting up with her and her stupid parents, but for having to accept a spurred resolve such as this—one that was as fragile and unsure as it was recently formed. But she couldn't go back on her word, especially since she got her pokemon involved in it, too.

With this wordless understanding between them, Elesa reverted her attention to the whole classroom. Everyone—even that damned teacher that was just as wrapped around her finger as the rest of the students were—stared at her. No one said anything, except for those idiotic bullies that couldn't even pick up on the change in atmosphere around them. They were too busy losing their minds over insulting Skyla that they had no idea about the plans that transpired behind their backs.

Smiling to herself, Elesa raised her hand to point at the offending students. Somehow, it went unsaid that she was calling out the bullies and _not_ the redheaded girl they were hounding. And somehow, her blitzle seemed to understand this sentiment that quietly escaped Skyla's mouth. It took a fighting stance, and gathered electricity from the streaming lights in its body.

Then, with a flourish, Elesa cried out: "Blitzle, use Thunder Wave!"

That group of bully students finally took the hint, and they turned around with wide looks of surprise on their young faces. One of them wanted to shout in protest, but he didn't get the chance to as weak bolts of electricity surged through him. It surged through all of the idiot students, causing them to tumble over themselves in shock. But once they hit the ground, they remained largely paralyzed as the move's effect promised they would be.

Everyone gasped. Skyla was silent as death itself, but entirely alive as she stood from her chair with her hands covering her mouth. There was confusion etched into her blue eyes, as if they seemingly reflected the skies of a world on its last day of existence. Elesa matched this expression with her own icy blue stare—one that looked like the frost of a long ice age finally melting underneath the sun's warm rays.

For a short moment in time, there was no one else in the world except for the two of them, and they spoke to each other without actually speaking, but it was as if their words had come to bright, beautiful light before them.

"I'm sorry," Elesa seemed to say. "I'm really sorry, and I mean it, this time. I don't want to hate you anymore."

"I can see that," Skyla appeared to jokingly reply. "But you didn't have to zap 'em, y'know."

"I know I didn't have to," Elesa wordlessly agreed. "But I wanted to."

"Haha," Skyla's laugh resounded in their minds. "Well, guess what? I've decided what I want to do, too."

"And what's that?"

"I want to forgive you. For now I actually want to forgive you. And maybe we can start over, Elesa?"

"Yes! That sounds great, Skyla!"

"Perfect!"

Their privacy ended after that agreement, however, because the world came crashing back at them with full force. Suddenly, all the students were gathered around Elesa and the paralyzed students, and the teacher was in front of the blonde—screaming inconsistencies above her head and sounding panicked and disappointed all at once. Skyla was no longer in sight, and Elesa couldn't quite hear her voice (was that really her voice, to begin with?) or sense her resolve. However, when she peered around the instructor's large figure—and when she filtered out the ugly sights of the other passive and stupid students—she found what she wanted.

She found Skyla, standing by her desk and completely ignoring the biting inquiries of the others. Some of them accused her of causing this whole mess to begin with, while others were nicer and asked if she was okay. But they were all disregarded, because Skyla's eyes were affixed in front of her.

She was staring right at Elesa.

There was a smile on her face, and a look of understanding in her eyes.

 _Ah,_ Elesa thought. _So, she_ did _hear me, after all. So she knows, now._

And even though she felt like her carefully crafted mask had cracks in it—even though she felt like she might needed to mend a new mask entirely from scratch—Elesa was delighted. In her short years of life up to this point, she hadn't felt this happy at all. Not when her birthday came around, not when she received her first partner, not even when her parents stopped obsessively taking care of every aspect of her life.

Until this moment, Elesa was sure that she didn't know what happiness really _was._ But maybe happiness was the look in Skyla's eyes. Maybe it was the paralytic electricity surging through the bullies, one that was mostly harmless and just spiteful at best. Maybe happiness was the zebra pokemon bristling at her side, one that seemed just as amused by its antics as its owner was.

Maybe happiness was Elesa's own image, one that was enhancing and breaking at the same time.

Maybe that was it.

"Elesa, Skyla, you two come to the principal's office with me, _now!"_ the teacher suddenly yelled. The other students were broken free of their paralysis now, and they were literally and figuratively stunned into silence as a result of it. A few of them shot Elesa some dirty looks, but the others muttered to themselves that they were "giving up" on this Skyla business, if this accident was any indication of such.

The other students parted like waves in the sea as they waited for Elesa and Skyla to come together in one troubled pair, with the teacher acting as their punisher in this single instance.

When Elesa reunited with Skyla at her side, there was something new and bright in doing so. Skyla's mouth formed its trademark smile, and the confused shades of blue in her eyes morphed into something kind and understanding. She didn't thank Elesa for coming to her theoretical rescue, but there was a gratitude in her body that seemed to say _Thanks for keeping your promise, Elesa._

Elesa's own body seemed to say _You're welcome_ as she walked down the aisles in shamelessly happy strides, following the footsteps of the teacher like a soldier on a drumbeat. Then, both Elesa and Skyla entered the hallways, leaving the rest of the class behind as they moved onward to the principal's office.

Suddenly, Skyla reached out and squeezed Elesa's hand with a greatly timid motion, but then pulled back just as quickly. Still, the sensation of her hands—sweaty, but warm and _soft_ —was strangely pleasant. The feeling buzzed like static alongside Elesa's light and smooth skin, and she traced her fingers over the lingering spot of warmth for some time.

That's when she realized that happiness wasn't the feeling she got when the bullies fell down in paralyzed stupors. It wasn't the stunned looks of stupidity on the other students' faces, either. Happiness wasn't in attacking enemies with her blitzle, or feeding stray lillipups in the street. It certainly wasn't in her lukewarm parents and their colder sentiments, and it _definitely_ wasn't in the ice-cold image she crafted for herself over these years.

Happiness was the feeling she got when she saw Skyla _smile_ now, and it was the sensation of warmth lingering in her hand and stirring inside her chest. _That_ was happiness.

And she could finally say that for a fact.

…

"The situation is this. Elesa used her blitzle to paralyze a few of the other students in the classroom."

"Elesa, what on earth possessed you to do this? We raised you better than this!"

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't stand it anymore. Those students were bullying Skyla and no one wanted to do anything. So I had to do _something._ "

"Yes, but did you _have to_ paralyze them with a thunder wave attack? What if Blitzle disobeyed you just then? What if it used thunderbolt, instead, and actually hurt them?"

"But it _didn't._ I was annoyed, and I wasn't _stupid._ I wasn't gonna seriously hurt anyone. But those bullies were different. I'll have you know that they always hurt Skyla when no one's looking. The whole class can tell you this if you don't believe me."

"Skyla...is this true?"

"Mom, Dad…yeah, it's true. They were bullying me."

"..."

"W-Well, the situation's gotten a little bit complicated, but I can assure everyone in this room that no matter what happened, there will be consequences! Principal, if you will!"

"Yes, yes. It's unfortunate that Skyla here was a victim of bullying. We'll do our best to ensure it never, ever happens in the future. As her parents, you two can be assured that we'll take action from here on out."

"Good."

"As expected of the top school in Castelia City."

"And as for you, Elesa. While it was valiant of you to step in when no one else would, violence was _not_ the right answer. Unfortunately, you'll have to be punished for what you did. You'll have two weeks detention, before and after school."

"Wait, Mr. Principal! That's not fair! Elesa was just trying to protect me, and—"

"—Miss Skyla, I'm afraid this is reasonable for what she did. If anything, Miss Elesa should be very grateful that I'm not suspending her for actions."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Very good. Now that everything's settled. I think it's time for everyone to go home. If anyone has anymore questions for me, feel free to e-mail me or call me at a later time. I'll have to ask everyone—including the parents—to leave now."

All at once, the meeting seemed conjourned. The two sets of parents—Elesa's indifferent mother and father alongside Skyla's overbearing father and mother—looked stupefied in every manner. One set couldn't believe that their daughter would resort to such violence to resolve a conflict, while the other set couldn't believe that _their_ daughter was pushed to the limits of bullying. But both actions might have explained some strange things that have been going on lately, and for that, this outcome wasn't entirely the worst.

Outside of the school, Elesa and Skyla's parents convened with one another. They exchanged numbers, and vowed not to make this a bigger deal than it should.

"I suppose we should thank you and your daughter," Skyla's mother—a woman whose name was Naomi, it seemed—said. "We had no idea that Skyla was being bullied in school. And to think that Elesa was brave enough to step in when she did…"

"Well," Elesa's mother—a woman whose name was Darlene, apparently—began to say, "you're welcome, but I'm not sure if that gratitude is well-placed. I mean, Elesa never told us anything about school regarding this, so it's just so shocking to hear that she would suddenly attack other students."

"I wouldn't be too hard on her," Skyla's father—a man whose name was Eric, it seemed—said. "Most children don't speak up or do anything when another is suffering. Besides, detention for two weeks seems too harsh, even for me!"

"If you say so, then I guess we have no choice but to consider it," Elesa's father—a man whose name was Alexander, apparently—said. "But I'm glad this matter was resolved, even if it was done so strangely...and my apologies about your daughter's treatment in class. Elesa can be so secretive at times, so we had no idea…"

They continued to exchange words like that, as all four of them pretended to be more concerned and caring than they actually were. But there was something comforting in the pleasantries they had, such that they formed the footholds of _friendship_ beneath their feet.

Just some feet away from them were the two daughters in question. Elesa was smiling for once, something that was a little bit different from her practiced grins or wicked giggles that she was known for having. Instead, her lips were set against a soft outline of a smile, and her eyes twinkled with a semblance of _euphoria._

Skyla was just as elated, even though her chest was still heavy with anxiety and anticipation. She matched Elesa's expression with her own stunning smile, and she even laughed at her own expense.

"Well, maybe this won't be so bad for the two of us."

"Maybe. Skyla, let's start over for real, okay?"

"You mean that?"

"Yes!" Elesa nearly squealed, but contained her new excitement within her. "I don't care if everyone else hates us, now. It'll be fine if we become friends, anyway."

"I don't think they'll _all_ hate us," Skyla pointed out. "But I'll be your friend, Elesa. As long as you promise to really be mine, then I guess it doesn't matter."

They talked some more, and joked about how silly they used to be. Elesa, of course, apologized for her former behavior over the past several years. She also thanked Skyla for not mentioning how she used to be Skyla's biggest bully herself, to which Skyla said was "no big deal" because Elesa kept her promise, and as long as she held to it then the past didn't matter anymore.

Their resolves matched for the first time, really, and there was something light and fresh in the air. It could have been the afternoon sun shining down on them in like-minded rays, or it could have been the breeze that picked up and whipped their hair around in frenzied tangles.

Undoubtedly, it was the promise of a new beginning that was the perpetrator of such happiness for the two of them. They would start over once more; they would unearth themselves from years of one-sided rivalry and hatred, and begin anew on fresh and unsoiled ground. They would walk this uncertain path together, continuing onto the future where they would be teenagers to adults to whatever happened after that point.

They would do it _together,_ and the idea was so strange but exciting for the both of them. Elesa finally had a reason to start running, while Skyla had a reason to _not_ run away anymore. Because if Elesa could change, then so could her parents. And if that never happened, then things would eventually get better. There were so many nights where Skyla wondered if things would ever get better, only for everything to change entirely over the span of two days. So if that's any indication of how things would turn out in the future, then she still had hope for her parents, and this wild world they called their home.

"Elesa, Skyla! Let's get going!"

Four voices called after them, and the two girls snapped out of whatever happy spell was cast on them. But the feelings didn't fade as they walked over to their respective parents, and greeted them with steady smiles on their faces. All six people gathered there said their goodbyes, and Skyla promised that she would see Elesa again tomorrow.

Two families diverged into two different cars in front of the school. And although Elesa and Skyla were separated by their temporary distance, it felt as if they were still together. It felt like Skyla was in the car with Elesa and Elesa was in the car with Skyla, and they were chatting over all the trivial things that they should have asked each other over the years. They talked about all their likes and dislikes, and got caught up with each other's lives as they tried to make up for lost time.

Then the night fell, and their pace slowed down but their hearts remained the same. And Elesa listened to a long lecture from her parents about how using her pokemon to attack other people was wrong.

After that, she found respite inside the warmth of the covers of her bed, as she snuggled herself inwardly and smiled all the while. Then, she fell asleep soundly, her breath falling into rhythmic lulls after the eventful day she just had.

Needless to say, she dreamt of Skyla that night.


End file.
